For everyone at Voyage Care Winter 2021
Aswards pecial
Hooray for heroes Find out who our VEA heroes are and how they celebrated on the big night Page 8-24 exclusive!
How we made this year’s VEAs extra special Read more on Page 11
P lus!
highlights so far! Page 6
Inside
to Great
readr
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Answ ers:
1: B 2: C 3: D 4: A
Day in the life 8 Our winners
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60 seconds with... Gethin Jones
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Create your own award
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This issue’s helpers Thanks to these people for making this issue of Zest extra special… Our wonderful photographers Alex and Greg who captured all of your special moments from the VEAs.
Thanks to Toni Lazarus for sharing your inspiring story with us, page 22.
Our cover star this issue is Ruth Bailey, who won the Sade Abayomi award.
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Welcome
Social
…to our 2021 Awards special! The Voyage Excellence Awards came back with a bang! It was great to be together, celebrating the achievements of people from across the Voyage Care family. After our virtual celebration in 2020, it felt really special. We had a record-breaking number of nominations and the quality was incredible. All our nominees should feel very proud. We were delighted to welcome many of our 2020 finalists to celebrate with us. Whilst I stood hosting the awards with Andrew and Gethin Jones, our celebrity guest, I thought about the last 18 months and how special this celebration is. You are all superheroes.
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On 21 October we took over our social channels and posted exclusive photos and videos from the night of the Voyage Excellence Awards! Here are some of our most popular posts… Congratulations to our long service team members
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As always, the stories of our finalists shone a light on the amazing work you do, and it was great to see so many smiling faces. A final congratulations to all our winners and finalists. I hope you all enjoy reading about the 2021 VEAs. Who knows, perhaps next year you’ll be joining us! Jayne Davey Chief Operating Officer
Celebrations all round for the Internal Communications team! The Internal Communications team won Best In-House Team (1-5 members) at the Institute of Internal Communications (IoIC) Awards 2021 for being clearly focused on the needs of employees and the people we support. They also scooped an Award of Excellence for Best Magazine and we are delighted that Zest has been given further recognition at a national level!
Elmsmead are awarded Specialist Team of the Year
63 likes 3.4K people reached
n Find us o
...
@voyagecare
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VoyageCareLtd Voyage Care Ltd
Get involved and be social!
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News flash Here’s what you have been getting up to since the last issue of Zest...
Birthday celebrations Natalie from Riverside and Roseberry Lodges recently celebrated her 38th birthday. Natalie’s mum visited her on her special day. They enjoyed a lovely meal and a glass of prosecco.
Natalie got some lovely birthday presents
Natalie received lots of gifts from her friends and family. One of her favourite presents was some new bedding.
Woodley House! Join us in saying a warm welcome to our new service in Nottingham, Woodley House. The 51 members of the team at Woodley House support 18 people and we’re delighted they’re joining the Voyage Care family.
Time for cake Natalie has lived at Suez Road for 40 years. She moved in when it first opened in 1981. To celebrate, Natalie invited her mum and sister to a barbecue with her housemates . A new person was moving in the same week as Natalie’s anniversary at Suez Road so she baked a cake to celebrate! Everyone enjoyed eating together and the cake went down a treat!
Natalie has seen many reside nts and staff come and go over the years and still loves Suez Ro ad as much as when she first arrive d!
Becci, Field Support Supervisor
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Healthy and home grown Thomas from Stretton Lodge recently planted potatoes, runner beans and tomatoes in his garden. With the weather getting cooler and the nights getting longer, he decided it was time to harvest them. Thomas turned them into healthy meals, and his favourite was a chicken curry – yummy!
For more gardening tips and tricks, join our virtual gardening club on Hive!
From harvesting to cooking
hive
s e ic v r e s r u o g in t a r b le Ce
n Injury Willowbrook, a Brai r de or in e ar service, received Double celebrations Rehabilitation (BIR) es. ditation. They for two of our servic their Headway Accre s. utstanding in all area k O oo d te br ra ow e ill er W w d an Barrington House itations in their have 26 NAS and 16 w no e have achieved accred W th es tulations to bo ay accredited servic dw ea specialisms! Congra H ur yo ht lig – ements high r Voyage Care family ou teams - these achiev in t! or pp su ople we yone! dedication to the pe congratulations ever e, residential care hom a , se ou H on gt in rr Ba by the National has been accredited t S) for their specialis Autistic Society (NA people. support for autistic
Read about how they achieved their accreditations on Hive!
hive
Get in touch
We love to hear about what you’ve been up to. Send your stories and photos to communications@voyagecare.com
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Roselea
A closer look at our brrrrrrilliant winter Activ8 challenges. There’s a whole host of Activ8 activities to try in our winter pack. October was a busy month for our services. People created their own eerie exhibitions, carved pumpkins, hosted Oktoberfest carnivals and tried astronaut training. Don’t just take our word for it! Take a look at some of the great Activ8 activities our services got involved with.
Brookfields
We still have lots of fun activities planned for November and December! From going on an autumn walk, to celebrating bonfire night and getting ready for Christmas, there’s plenty of challenges to keep you busy! If you complete eight different challenges, you’ll get a fantastic reward. How many challenges can you complete?
Cheveril Lane
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Qu How estion 1: ma challe nges ny Activ8 do comp lete t you nee d to o win a p r A: 10 ize? B: 8 C: 6 D: 4 Tudor Rose
Tudor Rose
The shor t story Our services ha
ve been takin g part in the winter editio n of the Activ 8 challenge. Complete eig ht challenge s to receive a fantastic rew ard. Ready, s et, Activ8!
Winter edition
Learn, have fun,ile and sm e through ths! season
CHALLENG
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Remember to send photos and videos of you completing the Activ8 winter challenge to communications@voyagecare.com
Daffodils
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Awards special
Tudor Rose held their very own VEAs in service. We caught up with them to find out how their day went…
Day at the awards Everyone joined in to decorate the service ready for their VEAs event.
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Sheena
Once the decorations were up, the ladies from Tudor Rose designed their own certificates with a wax-sealed stamp.
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3 Everyone was awarded their very own trophy on the red carpet.
The people we support were also rewarded with some fabulous gifts.
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Finally, everyone sat down together with a takeawa y and watched the VEAs virtually!
What do you usually get up to in a day? If you’d like to share your day with us, get in touch by emailing communications@voyagecare.com
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Awsparedcsial
cal o l heroes
Charlotte Fraser, DCA Kent & Medway
Essex DCA
A look back at the regional celebrations...
We had such a lovely, happy day!
This year we were happy to be able to hold regional VEA celebrations again. There were six events over two days – it was great to see everyone together. All of our regional finalists got a surprise gift in the post. We sent them a Boomf (a pop-out cube) that took everyone by surprise and included their regional event invitation.
Ellen Poynton, Managing Director, South West Maria Graham, Sarajane Willis and Ellen Poynton, Northfield House
All the regional finalists enjoyed a tasty afternoon tea before the winners were announced. During the announcement, the Managing Directors shared a few words about each winner and why they deserved their award. The winners were all given certificates and awards. What a great celebration of their hard work and dedication over the last 12-months!
Stretton Lodge
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I am so proud of Stretton Lodge winning in the Community Team category.
Lisa Timms, Branch Manager, DCA Warwickshire
Urvi Patel, Central East
Joy Parkes, Cedar Road
Joseph Baker, Lavender House & Primrose Lodge
Keith Moran, Three Sisters Louise Houghton, Lorenzo Drive
You can see the full list of regional winners on Hive
Natasha Mason, Hemlington Hall
hive
To see who went on to win on the night, go to page 13
Sarajane Willis and Charlotte Henstock, Northfield House Wha Questi on 2 t is gold include : d A: D envelop in the ri e B: F nks me s? o n C: In od me u nu vita the tion to V D: T EAs icke ts
alldetails!
It s in the
Making the biggest night of the year even bigger. We were thrilled to host the Voyage Excellence Awards in person this year after missing out in 2020. To make up for lost time, we invited last year’s finalists along too. It was the biggest VEAs we’ve ever had.
Sir Evelyn Road Laura Simmons and Sarah Jeffery, DCA Hull & East Riding
St Marks Road
Once the regional winners were announced, it was time to reveal the national finalists. We surprised them with a pop-up balloon and our famous gold envelope. Their invitation to the Voyage Excellence Awards was inside. Andrew Cannon later announced the national finalists in a special video on Hive. Read on to find out more about the big night… Kirsty Drummond, Redmond House
e h t And re. .
a s r e n n i w
Congratulations to all our superheroes! Introducing our 2021 Voyage Excellence Award winners...
Covid ETHOS Heroes Laura Simmons, Sarah Jeffery, Bellfield Avenue and Karina Johnson, Quality Development
Care Home Senior Team Member of the Year Tracey Hurt , Ruddington View
Operations Manager of the Year Vicki Bennett, Central West
Group Support Team Member of the Year Mark Hamilton, IT Support
Branch Manager of the Year David Bruin, VSH
Care Home Manager of the Year Magda Stankiewicz, Mandalay
Branch of the Year DCA Norfolk
Sade Abayomi Awar d Ruth Bailey, Service Optimisation
Community Support Worker of the Year Toni Lazarus, Upland Road
Specialist Team of the Year Elmsmead
Outstanding Achievement Award Broadview Care Home Team of the Year St Marks Road
Learner of the Year Charlotte Henstock, Northfield House
Newcomer of the Year Sarah Baldwin, Hurstville Drive
Group Support Team of the Year Service Optimisation
Community Senior Team Member of the Year Vlasta Bennett, Lions Cross
Care Home Support Worker of the Year Joseph Baker, Lavender House & Primrose Lodge
Community Team of the Year Oxford House
Behind the scenes It’s always busy behind the scenes of the Voyage Excellence Awards. This year we were busy setting up the stage for our biggest VEAs ever. At the same time, we were preparing the tech for everyone watching at home. Here are some other key moments… The team pack up some special hampers for our finalists watching at home
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regional winners
Andrew and Jayne in rehearsals for the big night
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nati s winner Lots of you tuned in from home and watched along
It’s time to get the place ready for our special guests
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Charlotte Henstock joined us from home The team speak to our winners for this issue of Zest magazine
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Qu How man estion the 3: yp VEA s vir eople wa tu A: O ally from tched v hom B: O er 50 e? v e r 75 C: O v D: O er 100 ver 150
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nom d receive
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A moment on the red carpet Ruth Bailey from the Service Optimisation team, was presented with our prestigious Sade Abayomi Award at this year’s Voyage Excellence Awards. We caught up with Ruth on the night to find out how she felt about winning this award.
Congratulations Ruth! How did it feel winning one of our special awards of the evening? I was very shocked. I didn’t expect to win and couldn’t believe it when they called my name. It’s just amazing and the best feeling ever. How have you kept yourself motivated in your role over the last year? I’ve never lost my ETHOS and I want to make a difference. I know I deliver great quality care and make a difference to people’s lives.
What do you love the most about your role? I’m just going into my 28th year working at Voyage Care and I’m very proud to work here. I appreciate that every day is a different day and working in the Service Optimisation team feels like you’re starting a new job over and over again!
ry o t s t r o h s The ade Abayomi Award ard The S stigious aw re p t s o m hts is our and highlig g in n e v e tion of the and dedica k r o w d r a the h hy winner. y of its wort Ruth Baile o t s n io t la nt! Congratu achieveme l fu r e d n o for this w
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Ruth winning the award is a fantastic achievement and testimony to the dedication she shows to the people we support, and our teams. She will always go above and beyond regardless of who it’s for. It is an honour and privilege to work alongside Ruth, and she’s certainly a worthy winner!
Gillian Smith, Director of Service Optimisation
Ruth Bailey
To read more exclusive interviews from the night, visit Hive!
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seconds with...
Gethin Jones
seconds with...
We caught up with Gethin at the end of the night to see how he enjoyed hosting our biggest event of the year Thank you so much for joining us at this year’s Voyage Excellence Awards. What has this evening meant to you? It was a complete privilege. During the pandemic, one story that kept coming back on the show [BBC Morning Live] was the one around social care. Every day we were moved with stories just like the ones from tonight. This sector carries on, regardless of the pandemic. We were calling the finalists superheroes in the room and I think that sums them up perfectly.
Visit Hive to read the full interview with our celebrity host!
hive
Every day we were moved with stories just like the ones from tonight. This sector carries on, regardless of the pandemic or not. What has been your favourite moment of the night? I think it has to be seeing the reaction of the others when the winners were announced. You can see how close-knit the teams are. I think any individual win was also seen as a team win, which is just wonderful. Our staff are incredible, the atmosphere was second to none tonight! I think they enjoyed meeting you too. Can you tell us something interesting about yourself? I can play the violin. Some people here tonight heard me when I borrowed a violin from the string duo!
Oh, what a night!
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We caught up with some of our special guests from Central West to find out what it meant to them to win a Voyage Excellence Award. “It’s completely overwhelming to actually win, I wasn’t expecting it because this is just my day-today job!” David Bruin, Branch Manager VSH “I wouldn’t be where I am without my team, they are fantastic!” Vicki Bennett, Operations Manager “Vicki and David work so hard and do a great job! It’s wonderful to see them win, I couldn’t be more proud of them and their amazing teams.” Alan Marshall, Central West Managing Director
Alan Marshall Vicki Bennett
David Bruin
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Tackling it together Our Community Support Worker of the Year is Toni Lazarus from Upland Road. We found out the powerful story behind the nominations for Toni… One day, when out in the community, both Toni and the person she was supporting were involved in a hit-and-run incident. They were both injured and were taken to hospital in an ambulance. When arriving at A&E, Toni asked staff at the hospital if they could be put next to each other so that she could help the person we support with their anxiety and make sure they were OK. Despite being off work whilst she recovered from her injuries, Toni made regular video calls with the person we support and other residents. With compassion and dedication, Toni supported them throughout their recovery, determined that they would tackle it together! Our judges were amazed at Toni’s selfless approach to going above and beyond, putting the person she was supporting first throughout.
It was quite surreal to win. I can’t see that what I have done is such a big thing; when you’re caring for someone it just feels automatic. I just wanted to make sure she was OK.
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r o f r e e h c l Al s Complex Care
Children
It was a fun night for the ladies of Children’s Complex Care (CCC). They were finalists in the Branch of the Year award and Valaine Wilson, Clinical Nurse Educator, was also a finalist in Field Based Team Member of the Year. We had a chat with Valaine after the awards… What does it mean to you to have been able to attend tonight’s event? I’m very honoured to be here tonight, it’s just amazing to be invited. It’s really great to have all our hard work recognised and be announced as national finalists. I’m proud of the whole CCC team.
Valaine
ne Mujeri, Valaine Wilson, Yvon rra Torres Gemma Morris, Joha
How are the CCC team finding the celebrations? We are loving the event and are having an incredible night. We are excited to hit the dance floor and dance the night away. We will definitely continue the celebrations back at the branch. What has been your favourite moment of the night so far? Just being able to celebrate all our hard efforts with the team.
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Smiles for a sustainable
surprise!
The Outstanding Achievement award can be given for many reasons. This year our winners were recognised for trying to reduce our carbon footprint. They have found new and exciting ways to engage the people they support in meaningful activities that not only benefit them, but the world around them too. The winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award is… Broadview.
What one thing could a service do to get started in being more environmentally friendly? Alison: Compost and chickens: that’s the way forward. Stefano: Yes, recycling food waste to create compost and turning it into something useful that can help you grow your own plants, fruits and vegetables.
Alison and Stefano joined us on the night And finally, can you describe the night and accepted their surprise award: in one word: Congratulations! You didn’t even know that you were up for an award this evening, what was it like the moment that you found out you had won? Alison: It was amazing, a total surprise. Stefano: Yes it was – I was quite shocked to see myself on the big screen.
Did you know? The Outstanding Achievement award was made from recycled yoghurt pots and sustainable oak!
Alison: Amazing! Stefano: Fantastic!
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We’re already planning how to make next year’s VEAs even more special!
A lookahead.. We hope you all enjoyed celebrating with us at this year’s Voyage Excellence Awards. Congratulations to our 2021 winners. We’re already beginning to plan for next year, and we’ll share more details with you in 2022! In the meantime, start thinking about who you could nominate! The best nominations include lots of detail and supporting material. If you know someone who has gone above and beyond, make a note of it now and save yourself lots of time next year.
If you have any questions about the Voyage Excellence Awards, email communications@voyagecare.com
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Competition time Create your own award... In honour of our awards special of Zest, we’re asking you to design your own award! It can be any shape, style or colour you want. Pull out all the stops and make your award sparkle! Try to use recycled materials where you can. The winner will get their award created and sent to them. To enter the competition, email a scanned copy of your award design along with your name and service to communications@voyagecare.com by Friday 26 November. Good luck!
: ion 4 e of t s e am Qu he n ior? t s i t rr Wha eco wa anet r Pl u o tain an p a C M A: an arth B: E er Wom t men ond C: W Environ r D: M
Christmas card competition! We’re running our famous Christmas card competition again this year. We can’t wait to see what amazing designs you come up with. To enter the competition, all you need to do is send a photo of your Christmas card to communications@voyagecare.com by 30 November.
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Your Super Spotter winner is... In our last issue of Zest, we launched a competition for you to spot Captain Planet. He was hiding on different pages of the magazine. We asked you to let us know how many times you spotted him and where you found him. Congratulations to our winner Tammy Boulter who managed to spot all of Captain Planet’s hiding spots.
Forever friends
Review corner Our bigges t event of t he year took p lace both virtually an d in person . We asked t he team and people we support at St Marks Road to review the VEAs as the y watched vir tually. Here ’s what they t hought of this year’s e vent… What was you r favourite pa rt of the night? When St Mark s Team of the Ye Road won Care Home a as we could, th r. We cheered as loud e neighbours must have heard us! Did you do an yth your service to ing special in celebrate? We watched in o wanted an ‘Aw ur pyjamas, we ard Night In’ to gether. What would y ou rate the VE As out of 5?
Mark is looking for a Skype buddy
It was the best , from St Marks we could see everyone Road on the T V!
Mark lives at Drakes Place in Wellington. He’d like to meet new friends and expand his social skills.
Callum and Kathryn were proud of their staff team
Mark says, “I enjoy meeting new people, so I am interested in finding new friends to video call on Skype. My hobbies are playing video games, watching cars and listening to music.” If you’d like to get to know Mark, email communications@voyagecare.com who will set up a video chat.
If you’d like to review a TV show, movie or book for the nest issue of Zest, email communications@vo yagecare.com
Seasonal sewing We’re so happy to see autumn. This issue’s activity is inspired by nature. Why not try this sewing activity together in your service? All you need to do is follow the template and sew. Using a needle and thread, stitch around the shape. You can stitch directly to the card or use it as a template for some material. Use different coloured thread to bring your creations to life!
Leaf
Remember to take a photo of you with your creations, and don’t forget to share them at communications@voyagecare.com
Tell us what you think
We would love to know what you think of Zest! Send in your thoughts and ideas to communications@voyagecare.com or call the team on 01543 484 528
What you’ll need:
✔ Needle ✔ Thread ✔ Scissors ✔ Material
(optional)
Acorn
