Africa comes to home

AFRICA was brought to a care home in Salford when a community group showcased their traditions, festivals and culture for residents and staff.

Members of the Moonraker Foundation, which is based in Leigh, performed at Alderwood when they showcased African music, dance, costumes, and food.

Wearing traditional ceremonial dress, five performers played instruments and danced for the assembled audience.

Two residents joined in part-way through, when Denise Latham, 71, started dancing and Doris Jennings, 93, played a drum.

The residents also enjoyed an African arts and crafts session, where they coloured and decorated pictures and masks, ahead of the Foundation’s visit.

Home manager Angela De Mascia said: “It was a fabulous afternoon. Something really different for the residents and staff. Everyone loved it.

“All week the residents had been doing African arts and crafts and it was displayed, ready for the show, for The Moonraker Foundation members to see.

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to all five members for visiting Alderwood Care Home and giving everyone an amazing insight into such a vibrant and fascinating culture.”

The African heritage project from The Moonraker Foundation aims to raise awareness of African festivals and how they have changed, capturing and demonstrating memories and knowledge of these historical traditions.

Westmorland Homecare is aiming to recruit 20 new homecare assistants within the next six weeks – 16 of those will be new roles and four will be to fill existing vacancies. The jobs will be a mixture of full and part-time posts.

“There is an increasing need nationally and locally for care at home,” said Kelsey Walmsley, manager of the South Lakes branch of Westmorland Homecare.

“We want to show that a career in care is unlike many others. It’s rewarding in every way and definitely leaves you with that ‘feel good’ factor.”

New homecare assistants will continue to receive free induction training for around seven to 10 days and spend a couple of weeks shadowing a more experienced colleague on calls before working on their own. And now the company is offering a £250 starting bonus for all those who complete the training.

Westmorland Homecare provides thousands of hours of care each week to enable elderly and often frail people to live independently in their own home.

Its services include home care, such as help with housekeeping and meal preparation, and personal care, such as help with dressing, bathing and getting in and out of bed.

Kelsey said there was a strong ‘personality focus’ to its recruitment process.

She added: “We recruit people based on what their values are as individuals and whether they match our company values.

“The values of Westmorland Homecare are kindness, innovation, trust and enriching people’s lives.

“We have an utmost belief that we can teach people the necessary professional skills required for the job but the ability to care for people is an innate quality that individuals either have or do not have.”

She added that working for Westmorland Homecare was like joining a family.

“We have lots of staff who have been with us for an extremely long time because we look after our team and do things such as staff and client social events and even organise discounts for staff at local pubs.

“We have created continuity of care for clients and continuity of working for staff. They go to see the same clients on the same days because we want them to learn their clients’ routines and lifestyles and ultimately become their second family.”

Kelsey said that while care work was rewarding in itself, it could also be a pathway for those who wanted to join the medical profession. One former homecare assistant had gone on to study medicine, some had moved into nursing and one was now a qualified occupational therapist.