Carers thanked for dedication

Two Wiltshire carers have been commended for their commitment to providing top quality care and support throughout lockdown.

Helen Chibamba from Royal Wootton Bassett and Diana Stone from Calne work for homecare and support organisation Retain Healthcare, and each was thanked at a socially-distanced awards ceremony and presented with a nurses’ watch as a memento.

Helen Chibamba was nominated by her colleagues to be a Retain Hero for her commitment to supporting a Retain customer during the last few months of his life, despite lockdown and the increasing spread of coronavirus.  

Helen supported the customer overnight every Saturday, Sunday and Monday, in order to ensure that he received the best quality care and vital continuity of care. She continued to support him throughout lockdown until his death at the end of July.

Retain says the care and support that the family received has been credited as a reason he lived longer than was initially expected. The family were reassured and confident in Helen’s ability to look after him and make his final few months as comfortable as possible, and described Helen as a kind, caring and patient person for whom nothing was too much trouble. 

Helen, who has worked in care for 13 years and joined Retain at the end of last year, said: “It was a pleasure to support this customer and his family through the last few months of his life.  

"I built up a good relationship with the family and helped where I was needed to ensure that they knew that he would be alright all through the night with me there.  

“It was a lovely day to receive this recognition from Retain, although I really don’t see myself as a hero. I was just doing my job and would do the same for everyone.”

Diana, a Senior Healthcare Assistant, volunteered to work in the Hospital Discharge Support Unit in Malmesbury at the beginning of the pandemic. This unit, similar to the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, was dedicated to the care and recovery of patients with covid-19.

As a result, Diana had to sacrifice any contact with family outside of her household, including her seven-year-old stepdaughter, whilst also trying to protect her husband and two sons from anything she could potentially have been carrying by maintaining strict hygiene and proximity measures when returning home from work.   

Diana took on a frontline role to keep the unit going, including patients’ daily care, dealing with the admissions and discharges and sourcing PPE.  

She said: “When the opportunity came, I really wanted to help out on the unit but it had to be a family decision as everyone would be affected.  My family were very supportive and coped well with the changes.

“The unit was mainly elderly people with covid-19 who had been on ventilators in hospital, and this was the next stage of their recovery.  It was wonderful to see them leave the ward covid-free, and to give them a round of applause as they headed home.”

Retain Healthcare was launched last year. Each week, the company delivers more than 6,000 hours of care and support to people in their own homes, as well as providing an additional 3,000 hours of support to residential and nursing homes.  

Managing director David Trowbridge said: “Diana and Helen took on frontline roles whilst the rest of the country were locking down to stay safe.  Both put their worries to the side to ensure that others received the care and support they needed.  

“It was not only Diana and Helen who made sacrifices in order to help our community, but also their families.  The Hero Awards recognised not only the dedication of our staff members, but also the commitment their families made, so that the families of those ill with COVID-19 could be assured that they were receiving the best possible care too.

“I am proud to say that even with these global issues which acutely affect our customers and staff, Retain Healthcare has managed to grow at one of the hardest times any of us has faced in our careers.  

"We are looking forward to continuing to support our local communities and collaborating with organisations to limit the impact that this year’s winter pressures will have.”

More information about Retain Healthcare can be found at www.retainhealthcare.co.uk and on 01249 444900.