We’re celebrating Homecare Day 2020 by donating festive packages to those we care for – that’s what caring is all about
This coming Wednesday is Homecare Day and I’m looking forward to celebrating the fantastic work, extraordinary resilience and teamwork our carers have shown in this pandemic-hit year.
Homecare Day is a really important way to celebrate the all-year-round dedication of those, like my staff at HRM Homecare, who provide vital care at home support. The theme of Homecare Day this year is Care Community, which aims to highlight all the positive stories that are out there, which show just how important good-quality care is to the people who need it the most.
Today, I’d like to share a positive story about my staff. This year, a year blighted by COVID-19, they have been in the frontline of making sure children and families, adults with disabilities and older people across west and central Scotland receive the home support, self-directed support and specialised care they need to live well in their own homes.
But at the same time, have taken it upon themselves to raise funds out of their own pockets for those most in need and who struggle to get out to buy the basic necessities that the rest of us take for granted. They’ve been taking part in events such as ‘dressdown Fridays’, which encourages people to put aside a pound in the charity kitty so that they can wear what they please that day.
In total, my staff have raised several hundred pounds – and I have decided to match that figure myself. We are using the total sum raised to put together ‘goodie bag’ care packages for our service users and we intend to distribute them over the course of this month. These packages contain necessities such as toothpaste, shampoo and tissues, as well as much-needed Christmas sweets and treats.
However, this is not the only fundraising activity they have been doing this year. In the throes of the first lockdown of COVID-19, my teams in Kilmarnock, Coatbridge and Falkirk donated much-needed items to vulnerable local patients in University Hospital Crosshouse, and across Lanarkshire and Falkirk.
This was followed this up with further donations to The Salvation Army, Glenbervie Care Home and charity Love Falkirk. If anyone deserves specific recognition, it is my service manager Claire Graham who co-ordinated all this fundraising effort.
On this #HomecareDay, I say thank you to all my staff who’ve shown they care, who’ve gone the extra mile by not only doing their jobs with compassion and dignity, but of always thinking of others and following this through by donating from their own pockets to help them.
That’s what caring is all about, and I’m privileged to match the money they have raised this year.
So Happy Homecare Day when it comes on Wednesday 9th December, to all carers out there, especially my HRM carers and staff teams. Your efforts this year have been and continue to be immense.
For all those considering a career in care, the positive stories that will be shared this Homecare Day show what a fantastic profession this is, and one well worth joining.
Lynn Laughland, MD