Careers at Devonshire Dementia Care Home & Day Centre

My working experience at Devonshire Dementia Care Home

A letter from ex employee Queen
 

The Devonshire is a home to me. Each morning I stepped through the door it felt as though I was entering my second home. Everyone always had a smile on their faces and was very welcoming.

I enjoyed taking care of all the Residents and thanks to Devonshire Dementia Care Home and their continuous training, such as a walk through dementia and so many others they made me improve the care. I learnt that every single day is different and interesting in its own way. That is one of the aspects that kept me happy and smiling at the end of the day.

Initially, I didn’t think I could do activities or be an activities coordinator in a care home or any institution, until Sandra (administration manager) appointed me to work at the Day Centre. I was very nervous. Little did I know that it was an opportunity to realise my strengths. From then on I learnt to interact and engage with Residents more, which at the same time made them happier.

The Residents taught me different skills that I did not have before, such as: knitting, baking, playing board games (dominoes and snakes and ladders) and singing different songs.

I also learnt teamwork is key in offering high quality care to Residents. This is so we as carers always rely on each other to accomplish all our daily tasks and assignments.

Working at Devonshire Dementia Care Home taught me to work independently and with less supervision. I was always assigned different duties and learnt how to multitask and accomplish them on time. This improved my organisational and communication skills.

While at the Devonshire, my level of patience increased, as with time I learnt to be more patient and gentle with the Residents because I understood what they went through, hence I knew I needed to give them more time to allow them to do different tasks. 

There are so many things I am going to miss about working at Devonshire Dementia Care Home. First and foremost, I will miss the staff. I had the best managers, who always gave me a platform to voice my views in regards to my job and were very supportive at all times. This always eased my routine and made work fun. I will miss Sandra and Smith the most, as they were my close supervisors and guided me throughout to enable me to manage the Day Centre, which initially was a challenge.

I will also miss the carers as well as Bob and Ray. It was always fun to work with them as they always helped out when you needed them.

I will miss all the Residents and their relatives. Each resident was special in their own ways and brought different memories to my life. Their conversations were filled with love and never-ending stories that brought joy, happiness and taught me a lot. 

I will miss my daily routine at the Devonshire. It was a part of me for two years and seven months. The different activities that bonded me and the Residents, such as baking (we enjoyed the cake every Friday during afternoon tea), market experience (we shopped and talked about what market days and shopping looked like when they were young), hair salon (got everyone pampered and gave them a new look) and board games that got everyone wide awake throughout the day.

Lastly, I will also miss the Wednesday singing group. Oh how I loved this part of the day. I enjoyed every bit of it. I had learnt most of the songs with help from the Residents and had afternoon sing-alongs with them, which was so much fun as we danced to each song. I will miss this so much. I can’t believe I had mastered most of the songs!

The list of life lessons I learnt and memories that I made at the Devonshire could go on and on. I will forever be grateful for the time I spent with such amazing people (staff and Residents) and I am hoping to come and share more in the future.

I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Devonshire Dementia Care Home management for giving me the opportunity to work with them.

Yours sincerely,

Queen