I have so many different roles and responsibilities at Julia’s House that every day is so different – I provide care for the children we support in the hospice or out and about in the community, I’m a moving and handling instructor, I am a Lifelites champion (assistive and sensory technology), I maintain our gaming equipment for the older children, I keep the hospice ready for sessions - auditing its cleanliness, maintaining stock levels and testing our NHS equipment including everything we use to care for children at the end of their life, supporting our hospice lead nurse, Nat.
I also organise the food orders so that we can provide the children with a hot meal when they come for a hospice session and I organise the meetings for our team of carers, so we stay in touch with what everyone is doing. It’s quite a big to do list! No day is ever the same – I can be doing admin, on a session in the hospice with the children or out with a family in the community. And we are always on standby to help support a child and their family at the end of their life.
Always learning
I actually started out in a welder and fabricator apprenticeship but felt all along that I wanted to try something else, be something else. In a way I fell into the world of care but then I found I just loved it! I worked in various care and respite settings in schools and elsewhere and had always heard about Julia’s House by reputation for providing the very best care and training and really setting a very high standard. I joined them originally as a member of bank staff 16 years ago, then switched to part time, then full time and then became a Senior Care Team member. I’ve learnt so much since I’ve been at Julia’s House. The training here is really comprehensive for all staff and we’re always learning, from competencies to new equipment. Everything we do we audit, so we’re constantly improving to maintain the highest standards of care.
