Support workers self isolate with Charlotte to provide the best care
When Charlotte fell ill earlier this week with suspected coronavirus, her support workers Sam, James and Emily didn’t hesitate when they insisted they go into self isolation with her to ensure she received the best support possible.
A huge thank you to Sam, James and Emily from our Norfolk Support at Home service, and all our inspiring and dedicated support staff across FitzRoy for their tireless efforts during the most challenging times we have ever faced.
Sam told us: “I knew once I turned up for my shift on Monday morning and heard about Charlotte that I was going to go into self isolation with her. What else can you do in that situation? Charlotte understood that she could have a virus, but it is a really difficult and confusing time for the people we support. It must have been really quite frightening for her.
“I didn’t want her to feel different or like an outsider – the people we support struggle with feeling like that anyway. So James and I told her ‘we also have the virus, that’s why we are staying here with you’. I made sure she knew we were all in it together – we wanted to keep the atmosphere positive.
“We made sure we kept busy over those days, we always had a plan for the day ahead so Charlotte had something to look forward to. We played games and puzzles and watched some DVDs.
“When we were in isolation her parents couldn’t do enough to help, they called to check in on us and dropped off groceries to the doorstep, the saddest part was when Charlotte saw them coming and couldn’t understand why they couldn’t come in.
“Luckily after three days, we were able to lift the self isolation after advice from 111, when it became clear that Charlotte didn’t have the virus.”
So many colleagues messaged me and James over those few days to make sure we were okay and see if we needed anything. They were absolutely amazing. To me it shows I am working with the right people.
“Service manager Ginny and deputy manager Hannah are brilliant and are always there to provide that emotional support, which is so vital right now. I think how people are going above and beyond is just a testament to the fact we love our jobs and have great managers.”
Service manager Ginny said: “I am just in awe of all my staff. We are having to pull teams together at the moment to make sure we can support everyone, but it hasn’t been difficult because everyone is volunteering to go above and beyond. We’re just taking it one day at a time at the moment, but it goes without saying that we couldn’t do this without our brilliant support workers.”