Celebrating Five Years Of Care - Meet Victoria
Published: 04/09/2018
As we continue to celebrate half a decade of care in Hounslow & Chiswick, we recently spent some time with Victoria who explained to us a little bit more about her experience as a Care Assistant. Victoria was one of our first members of staff and would like to thank her for sharing her story with us.
As we continue to celebrate half a decade of care in Hounslow & Chiswick, we recently spent some time with Victoria who explained to us a little bit more about her experience as a Care Assistant.Victoria was one of our first members of staff and would like to thank her for sharing her story with us:
Working as a Care Assistant can be exceptionally fun, satisfying and rewarding but also quite challenging as it is a demanding job.
I began working as a Care Assistant just over five years ago where I would visit different customers. When I first did this, I would walk as I was allocated to customers within walking distance from home. I then began to cycle or take the bus as my calls became further afield on occasion.
I began to be a live in Care Assistant for an elderly lady and found it to be very rewarding, however sometimes quite hard as her needs became more challenging. I supported her with day to day activities and anything that she needed to make her day more comfortable.
Time management is very important for me as there are some days when everything runs smoothly and other days where I am slightly over time due to customers needing extra support (as we do not rush off if there is an emergency).
The first few times that I encountered an unforeseen situation I would panic a bit, but spend a few moments gathering m thoughts handling the situation. As I gained experience, I learnt how to deal with this much quicker and realised that the key is to expect the unexpected!
Throughout my time working as a Care Assistant, I have faced a variety of duties including helping customers with washing, dressing, medication, meals and cleaning along with trips to appointments and always working closely with family members.
I would say that probably the biggest challenges are supporting customers who have had a fall, injury or supporting those who you have known for a while and become severely ill.
In addition to this, it is particularly difficult when a customer you have supported for a long time and built a bond with passes away. Whilst this is pretty much a part of the job, it should never simply be gotten used to and the office team have always been incredibly supportive here.
And finally onto my favourite parts of the role! This has to be making conversation with my customers. I love hearing their stories, getting to know their character and generally having a laugh. I always feel that I have accomplished something when my customer smiles at me or says thank you as a say goodbye.
I would certainly recommend a career in care! It is varied, challenging, enjoyable and unexpected but certainly the best decision that I have made!
I began working as a Care Assistant just over five years ago where I would visit different customers. When I first did this, I would walk as I was allocated to customers within walking distance from home. I then began to cycle or take the bus as my calls became further afield on occasion.
I began to be a live in Care Assistant for an elderly lady and found it to be very rewarding, however sometimes quite hard as her needs became more challenging. I supported her with day to day activities and anything that she needed to make her day more comfortable.
Time management is very important for me as there are some days when everything runs smoothly and other days where I am slightly over time due to customers needing extra support (as we do not rush off if there is an emergency).
The first few times that I encountered an unforeseen situation I would panic a bit, but spend a few moments gathering m thoughts handling the situation. As I gained experience, I learnt how to deal with this much quicker and realised that the key is to expect the unexpected!
Throughout my time working as a Care Assistant, I have faced a variety of duties including helping customers with washing, dressing, medication, meals and cleaning along with trips to appointments and always working closely with family members.
I would say that probably the biggest challenges are supporting customers who have had a fall, injury or supporting those who you have known for a while and become severely ill.
In addition to this, it is particularly difficult when a customer you have supported for a long time and built a bond with passes away. Whilst this is pretty much a part of the job, it should never simply be gotten used to and the office team have always been incredibly supportive here.
And finally onto my favourite parts of the role! This has to be making conversation with my customers. I love hearing their stories, getting to know their character and generally having a laugh. I always feel that I have accomplished something when my customer smiles at me or says thank you as a say goodbye.
I would certainly recommend a career in care! It is varied, challenging, enjoyable and unexpected but certainly the best decision that I have made!
