BetterCare @ Home East - Newsletter No 3

BetterCare@HomeEast

NEWSLETTER ISSUE THREE 2022

NEWSLETTER ISSUE THREE ...because we care

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welcome to our 3rd newsletter brought to you because...

we care

Welcome to the summer edition of our quarterly newsletter. So, as we start to welcome a bit of warm weather and dare to believe Covid is disappearing over the horizon we welcome you to our latest newsletter, albeit a little later than scheduled. We have welcomed a few new members of staff and waved goodbye to a couple of others. Most recently Danni, who has moved on to pastures new and is still waiting to hear of her admission to the air force.

With Covid in mind we are starting to relax our Covid precautions by carrying out the anti-bacterial clean weekly rather than 3 times weekly as before. The pandemic has greatly increased the amount of single use plastic going into the environment so we will now be using aprons only when personal care tasks are being carried out. Use of masks, gloves and regular hand washing will continue as best practice.

As always, we have been very busy tending to our flock of Better Care East clients, there have been a lot of comings and goings amongst the team of carers and promotions aplenty. We are stepping up our education programme believing knowledge, coupled with hands on experience, empowers our carers to continue to deliver the Rolls Royce care that we expect for all.

Please note our new phone number:

01202 022178

line open 7am - 7pm Monday to Sunday

EAST

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01202 022178 • www.bettercareathomeeast.co.uk

Our team...

We are so proud of our amazing team, they may have already become familiar faces but just in case their names are alluding you - meet the team at Better Care at Home East...

Registered Manager/Owner

Joannah

Field Manager

Cris

Gill Office & HR Manager

Niamh

Mel

Liane

Jason

Malgo

Tracey

Suzanne

Bee

Leila

Carrie

Christopher

Lorine

Becky

Magdelena

We offer a huge welcome to all our new carers, some of whom have been with us for quite some time and will already be familiar faces.

Here at Better Care East, we strongly value education and we are pleased to announce that Liane has passed her Level 3 in Health & Social Care - big congratulations! Also Malgo is in the process of studying for her Level 3, we wish her well.

We say a sad farewell to Olivia but thank her for all her hard work, she will be missed but we send lots of good luck on her new journey.

This summer we wanted to do something extra special to show how much we appreciate our awesome team - so we are treating them to the...

FESTIVAL

From 3.30pm Friday 26th August to 12.00 noon Sunday 28th August, our wonderful team will be able to pop in as much as they like to our very own Better Care Festival! Giving them the opportunity to enjoy themselves with fun games, food, booze and plenty of surprises. Rotas will be arranged to try and give everyone the time to come and have fun. We will be doing split shifts so no one gets left out.

Please bear with us if your visits change slightly over the weekend, we are sure you will agree all the carers certainly deserve this!

NEWSLETTER ISSUE THREE ...because we care

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Special Mentions...

Better Care East

At Better Care East we are blessed to have such a wonderful team, so when trying to produce a Carer Spotlight feature we found it hard to pick out just one person, so we’ve decided to mention a few!

We have been busy topping up our training ensuring we are keeping you all safe and well.

• Lorine has been working some mammoth hours and is such a hard worker, she has recently been promoted to Field Care Manager.

• Niamh constant, dedicated care to all our clients, also Niamh has been promoted to Quality Lead Control and has produced some great reports.

• Malgo continues to offer unwavering support and hard work to Mel and her flock whilst still supporting the East.

• Tracey is a complete trojan, and never fails to support Jason and Liane, she has been promoted to their Field Care Manager.

• We are pleased to say Bee & Becky have both settled in well.

Thanks to everyone else for continued hard work.

TRAINING

We are holding a Mental Health Training course on the 27th May for everyone, and continue to Update Training and Care Certificate for everyone.

Liane passed her Diploma Level 3 Health & Social Care, Joannah passed her Diploma Level 5 Health & Social Care, Mel is studying for her Diploma Level 3 Health & Social Care, along with Tracey and Malgo. We are also delivering a new Induction Program and Clinical Skills in house by Gil in the next few weeks.

Well done everyone...

In Loving Memory Very sadly on 20th August 2021 Ellen ‘Jean’ Craggs passed away peacefully at home at the age of 91. We had cared for both Jean and her husband John, who passed in March 2019 for a number of years. Jean had secured a place in the hearts of all at Better Care, her sense of humour and warm spirit touched all of us and it was always a pleasure to spend time with her.

We also sadly announce the passing of Katy from Christchurch who passed away peacefully at home on 2nd September 2021 just a few days after her 88th birthday. Although we cared for this little lady only very briefly, she had quickly gained the love of all carers. Katy leaves a very caring daughter who did the best for her mum until the end.

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01202 022178 • www.bettercareeast.co.uk

Birthdays...

Peter from Christchurch turned 90 on the 28th March Roger from Highcliffe turned 83 on the 8th May Sheila from Christchurch 87 on the 23rd June Sylvia from Bournemouth 95 on the 1st July Marion from Highcliffe 90 on 15th July Vera from Christchurch 94 on the 22nd August

...we wish you all many happy returns Following on from our birthday list we thought we would share this with you...

Thank you, thank you,

thank you!!

the r Care East enough for We cannot thank Bette day! for my Dad’s 90th birth fabulous birthday cake de by the lovely Cris, it ma Delivered with a smile East show how Better Care his day! It just goes to they le seeing as it’s Mum always go the extra mi too a huge support to Dad care for! They are such le! birthday extra memorab and they made his 90th out them!

We just couldn’t do with ) (daughter & son-in-law Karen & Harry Bidgood

A GENTLE REMINDER...

SUMMER HYDRATION As well as eating healthily keeping, hydrated is also extremly important. We are all aware that elderly people are reluctant to drink and as carers we spend a lot of our visits trying to get fluids into our clients. The heat of the summer makes the need for fluid intake even more important because of the increased risk of dehydration. We like to be able to offer our clients a refreshing cold drink and would request that families provide a jug which we can fill with water or squash to keep in the fridge. There are hidden sources of fluid, such as jellies, which we also like to recommend.

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Self Care Prompts

With the warmer weather well on it’s way, we are sure you will feel your spirits lifting but if you do have an off day here are some helpful prompts to get you back on track...

MOVE YOUR BODY...

Stretch, take a class, dance, go for a walk - do something that works for you! Exercise is good for the mind and body!

READ A GOOD BOOK...

TALK TO SOMEONE...

Reading is so good for you, it increases your opportunity to discover new ideas, feeds your imagination and teaches you new skills!

Talking really helps, call up a friend, go for a coffee, have a chat. Remember you are not on your own and there are people who care, there to support you!

explained...

Many of you would have heard of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) but do you know what it’s all about?

Care Quality Commission (CQC) are independent regulators of health and adult social care in England.

They make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.

Better Care at Home East are so proud to have recently being given an overall rating of Outstanding Below are the five ‘key questions’ asked and our results on each;

Is the service safe? Are you protected from abuse and avoidable harm?

Is the service effective? Does your care, treatment and support achieve good results and help you maintain your quality of life, and is it based on the best available evidence?

Is the service caring?

Good Outstanding

Do staff involve you and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect?

Outstanding

Is the service responsive? Are services organised so that they can meet your needs?

Outstanding

Is the service well-led? Does the leadership of the organisation make sure that it’s providing high-quality care that’s based around your needs? And does it encourage learning and innovation and promote an open and fair culture?

Good

We look forward to continuing to bring you the Outstanding care you and your loved ones deserve.

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01202 022178 • www.bettercareathomeeast.co.uk

GET CREATIVE...

Make something, learn a skill, do a jigsaw, paint! Being creative allows you to support your brain and body by challenging yourself in new ways!

LISTEN TO MUSIC...

WRITE DOWN WHAT MAKES YOU GRATEFUL...

Listening to music can lift your mood. Singing, dancing and moving around helps both your body and mind by releasing endorphins!

Keeping track of the good things can help you focus on the positives and help you be more mindful!

Be sure not to let yourself get down, if you have any worries or issues mention it to your carer - we are sure we can help!

USEFUL CONTACTS These contacts were included last month but just as a reminder...

Highcliffe Dementia Support Group contact Sally 07541 331881 Highcliffe Plus Offering activities and opportunities to meet others contact Karena 01425 278644

Memory Café Christchurch 01202 764352 Christchurch Day Centre 01425 278644 Don’t forget if there is an emergency call 999 Our new website will be arriving soon and we are also introducing a care planner system that will stop timesheets and will make the background work easier for the management team.

If you just want some medical advice or need to speak to a doctor out of normal working hours call 111

NEWSLETTER ISSUE THREE ...because we care

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Colouring Competition

Our colouring competitions have proved very popular, so we have decided to be wise and include another one! So get colouring and a prize is available for the most impressive masterpiece!

NAME Once you’ve completed your masterpiece get your carer to take a picture and it will be sent to head office to be entered.

...and finally 8

NAME

Our amazing carers have continued to work caringly and compassionately as always delivering Rolls Royce Care to our little flock. For that we offer a huge ‘thank you’, your dedication does not go unnoticed, you make a huge 01202 022178 • www.bettercareathomeeast.co.uk difference.

01202 022178

email: joannah@bettercareathome.co.uk

www.bettercareeast.co.uk