Wendy has worked in the care sector for nearly 28 years, but when she was 16 and having just left school she was unsure about what she wanted to do as a career. She initially wanted to be a police officer, but soon realised she was too short! She then really wanted to be a hairdresser, but after some work experience she knew it wasn’t for her.
Wendy then went for an interview to be part of the YTS scheme for the RAF, but after a bomb scare at the Chatham careers centre her instinct told her this may not be right for her. In the hope of getting her daughter off the sofa, Wendy’s Mum signed her up for another YTS course at the local college for practical caring skills, although Wendy was keener for the painting and decorating course!
The course started the following Monday and allowed Wendy to have 4 days a week doing work experience and 1 day in college. Her first placement was in a care home in Southfleet, and she absolutely loved it!
Wendy says: “I just loved the interaction, I love to talk and I’ve always got on better with older people, so I felt happy and comfortable in that environment, and I loved the fact that I could help somebody.”
“I made a difference, I naturally loved every part of the care. Yes, there are busy times and you’re running around trying your best to do everything! But, every day is different, because everybody is different, and I love that.”
Wendy joined Mayflower in 2010 as a Healthcare Assistant, and within a few months she was promoted to Senior Healthcare Assistant. Then with a change of roles in the home, Wendy then became Shift Co-ordinator, where she worked on each floor of the home. Four years later there was an opportunity for a new role, Head of Care, and Wendy set her sights on it. Now as Deputy Manager of Mayflower, Wendy has worked at every level and her wealth of experience is evident throughout the home.
However, when Wendy first started in care, the job and the types of care you were learning about were very different. It wasn’t until 2005 when Wendy first heard the terms Alzheimer’s and Dementia being used to diagnose residents, as unfortunately 28 years ago, dementia was classed as being senile.
Wendy said “To be able to really unlock individuals, discovering their history, their likes, their dislikes, provides us with the knowledge to care for them so much more. If the resident is acting scared or anxious, and it may just be because they are in a noisy environment. Whatever they are going through it’s real to them, and as carers we need to be in their journey with them.” These are the skills that Wendy is so proud to have learnt throughout her time at Mayflower.
Dementia Training
Even though Wendy has been through a lot of training, and hands on experience throughout her career, it’s amazing what you can still learn about dementia. The dementia bus came to Mayflower for some in-depth training, and this allows staff to really put themselves in the shoes of those living with dementia at the home.
Blurred vision, loud noise, not knowing what else is going on – it is pretty scary! One of her challenges was to put a shirt on, simple right? However, she was wearing glasses that made her vision very poor, she had headphones on and could hear talking and the TV on, she had gloves on and her shirt was on inside out, and her challenge was to do the buttons up – not so easy. Wendy said, “It was so frustrating, the sounds were so distracting and although I thought I was verbalising my discontent in my head, I was in fact very loudly shouting this out to the room!”
“In the end I threw the shirt off in frustration, because in that moment I forgot where I was, and I just wanted to get it done – but I couldn’t.”
It definitely goes to show, that although a simple task such as putting a shirt on may seem easy enough to us – putting yourselves in the mindset of someone living with dementia it is no longer simple. This training has definitely changed the way that all of the staff behave around residents, we now all close doors that bit quieter, we are mindful of how loudly we are speaking to our colleagues. These little things might trigger something off with our residents and now we can reduce this. Relatives are always welcome to join us on our dementia training, if we can provide that extra bit of insight for their loved one, it can benefit everyone.
So, who is Wendy when she isn’t at Mayflower.
She has three children, a 20-year-old Son who is training as a primary school teacher, a 17 year old daughter who is training in hospitality and catering and her 11 year old daughter is just starting secondary school.
Wendy is known for being quite a loud character, but this hasn’t always been the case. And it seems that Paul McKenna is the one responsible for bringing Wendy out of her shell!
When she was 17 and working in her first care home, a group of colleagues went out one evening to a Paul McKenna show. The first thing he asked the audience to do was to all link arms, hold your hands in the air and close your eyes. However, unbeknown to Wendy, she was the only one of her group with her hands in the air and got pulled up to the stage!
There were loads of people on the stage initially, and she’s not sure how, but the group got smaller and smaller and she ended up on stage with 10 people. Wendy said “It was bizarre, even though I could hear what he was telling me, I was doing it, but I just wasn’t aware of what anyone around me was doing. So, I acted like an alien and I pretended to be a washing machine, thinking it was completely normal!” Since this day, Wendy has really never stopped talking!
Finally, when asking Wendy, what advice would she give to a 16/17 year old who is thinking about social care, she said:
“When I first started care it was just a job. But now, there is a career path for Healthcare Assistants, and you can grow within the care sector – I’m proof of that! You can make a difference to people’s lives, and through training and support of a team it is a great sector to be a part of. If there is a part of you that wants to try it, give it a go!”
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