Vindya Wanninayake, Managing Director at Bridgewater Home Care, nominated Zoe Marshall as our Star Carer for October saying:
Zoe has been a little shining star in our company. Always goes above and beyond our expectations and delivers amazing person-centered care to each individual. All our clients have nothing but great things to say about her. She has also been supporting the new starters with their shadowing and constantly in touch with the office to see how we can improve someone’s life by doing little things for them (i.e offer to pick up their medication from pharmacy when family are unable to, offer to take the bins out etc).
Zoe has three children from 14-20 and two grand children. They all live locally in the Castlefield area. Zoe is getting married in April to her long term partner Alex and says that her £50 Star Carer voucher is likely to be spent on buying something for the kids.
We caught up with Zoe and asked her about her work.
What was your reaction to winning CareLineLive’s October Star Carer Award?
I was surprised and a little bit mortified as I don’t like being the centre of attention. It was nice to be acknowledged for what I do though.
What aspects of being a carer do you enjoy?
I love all of it.
I work full time including every other weekend. I do 18-23 calls a day over the weekend if I’m on then. Midweek it would be more like 7-12 visits a day. Visits could range from assisting people to go to the bathroom, making tea, personal care like emptying catheters or helping with showering and of course giving medication.
I’ve been a carer for six years and only been with Bridgewater a couple of months having worked in a care home before. I prefer home care as you get so much more time with a client in their own home. It’s more one on one. I love that people have their independence, can stay in their own home.
How does CareLineLive’s Carer Companion App help in your job?
I find CareLineLive quite easy to use. It’s definitely beneficial to the carer. We can see if there have been any problems in the previous visit and of course use it to document the current visit which in turn is useful for the next carer. We can raise concerns if there is an issue and that is flagged straight through to our managers so they can get onto any problems.
The app lists the observations like monitor catheters, urine monitoring, bowel movements, food and drink. It also flags the tasks that need to be done like giving medication, meals, taking the bin out and any personal care. I use the app to take photos as well as check in and check out using the QR code scanner.
What are the challenges in your job?
When you love doing what you are doing you don’t tend to face many challenges. End of life care can be a challenge for me though as I can get a bit too attached. But that happens with lots of carers.
How do you switch off after a hard day at work?
When you are caring for people you don’t tend to switch off. You are still very much thinking about people. I come home and have a hot shower and try to relax but I’ll still often look over the notes to see how people are doing.
