Clients at our day care services in Wallington and Woking have been celebrating with Fran Simpson, the Manager at Woking Day Care service and Nicola Davies, the Manager at Wallington Day Care service, as they have both been announced as Finalists in this year’s Surrey Care Awards in The Care Worker of the Year – Supported Living / Day and Community Services category.
Both Day Care Services care for older people with a range of age-related conditions, including short-term memory loss and dementia. Fran and Nicola keep their clients engaged, motivated and inspired by designing and delivering a wide range of bespoke, meaningful activities which are tailored to meet each client’s individual needs.
Nicola and Fran were nominated for the esteemed regional award by Shirley Bradley, our Head of Day Care Services. “Fran and Nicola both thoroughly deserve to be Finalists in The Care Worker of the Year – Supported Living / Day and Community Services at this year’s Surrey Care Awards,” said Shirley. “They both give 200% to their clients every day, are kind, caring and so supportive with exceptional energy levels, bags of enthusiasm and drive.”
Between them, Nicola and Fran have worked in the Care Sector for 35 years. Nicola has been the Day Care Manager at Friends of the Elderly’s Wallington Day Care for just over a year, having worked in the Care Sector for 17 years; and Fran has worked in the Care Sector for 18 years, becoming the Day Care Manager at Woking Day Care in 2016.
“I see my clients as an extension of my family,” said Nicola. “My team and I treat each client exactly how we’d treat our own parents. My goal is to make sure that each client has a good day – every day.”
Working with her team, Nicola has created a welcoming, safe and calming environment at the Day Care Centre and has designed a wide range of daily activities for the clients to enhance their health, wellbeing and daily interactions with each other.
Nicola spends time talking with each client, getting to know them, their likes and dislikes which enables her to ensure everything she and her team do is tailored to meet their individual needs. “By doing this, we can deliver a bespoke service that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can take part in, enjoy and socialise,” added Nicola.
Nicola’s activities are both group and individually-focused and designed to keep her clients active, engaged and entertained. Favourites include Musical Bingo, gentle seated exercise sessions, arts and crafts, dance classes and pamper afternoons, where Nicola gives hand massages, manicures and paints her clients’ finger nails. The pamper afternoons are a wonderful way for Nicola and her team to get to know the clients on a more personal, one-to-one level. In addition, the benefits to the clients of receiving a hand massage are plentiful as they help with dexterity in the fingers and hands and reduce muscle tension and pain.
Always putting herself in her clients’ shoes, Fran continuously delivers her best, being mindful of everyone and thinking outside the box in all aspects of her role to bring new ideas and innovation to her clients.
An example is the monthly ‘Have Your Say’ session. Fran hosts this and clients give their feedback on how they think the activities at the day care have gone, what they think worked, what they enjoyed, what they want to see more of and what they feel didn’t work.
The sessions have resulted in a number of new activities including after lunch walks and a Past Histories game. “One of our clients enjoys walking but due to many factors, hasn’t had the opportunity to go out as much as she’d like,” said Fran. “She thought that it would be lovely to go out for strolls but believed that this wouldn’t be possible. When I hear what our clients want, I will do my best to find a solution. I now take regular group afternoon walks. We visit a local coffee shop, sit down for a chat and refreshments before making our way back to the Day Care Centre.”
The Past Histories game is tailored more to the non-verbal clients or clients who find it hard to converse. “We found that this particular exercise helps them to integrate and join in with the other clients. On our large screen, we show a variety of famous landmarks, cities and monuments. The clients guess where or what the picture is of and then guess who has been there or seen the image in the picture in real life. One client who is now non-verbal, was a well- travelled businessman. He lights up when participating, pointing, nodding and smiling at the places he’s been and things he’s seen,” continued Fran.
Both Nicola and Fran are Nicola active members of their local communities. Nicola has formed a partnership with Sutton Housing Society’s Cloverdale Court where together the teams host regular joint activities such as Bingo, watch performances by visiting entertainers, games afternoons, arts and craft sessions and chair-based exercise classes. Likewise, Fran is a local community advocate and has created many partnerships within the community, including Aldi. Via Aldi’s Neighbourly scheme, the local store donates long-life products, fruit, vegetables and bakery items that are near the end of their shelf life. These are delivered and displayed in the Day Care Centre’s specially created shop for clients to take home, free of charge.
Fran is solution-focused with a can do attitude. If a client feels they cannot do something, Fran will figure out a way for them to achieve their goal. The Day Cares’ Cookery Club came into being when one client said she loved cooking but as she couldn’t stand for long, so she didn’t think she could do it anymore.
“I suggested that instead of standing, she sat down to prepare ingredients. The client did this and now leads the Cookery Club for the other clients,” added Fran. “The client lets me know what she wants to cook each week and I get all the ingredients she needs. I even sometimes take on the role of Sous Chef.”
No matter the time of day, Nicola is there for her clients, their families and her team. If a client wants to chat, Nicola will stop what she’s doing and be 100% focused on the client, or if a family member needs her, she’ll be there.
“The safety of the clients is at the forefront of my mind every day. From the moment they arrive at the Day Care Centre, to the minute they leave. I manage the clients’ arrivals and departures and always know how each client is arriving and departing at the end of the day – albeit by taxi, dial-a-ride, in our own mini bus or with family or friends. I even check that everyone’s seat belt is securely on,” continued Nicola.
Every day, Fran and Nicola’s goal is to make sure that each client goes home happy, and even if they cannot remember what they have done, they know they have had a great time. “By knowing the people we support, their families and our teams, we provide personalised support tailored to the clients we are both passionate about caring for,” added Fran.
“I do not envy the Judges having to pick a Winner in this category, as all the Finalists are so deserving. I don’t know how they can possibly choose between Fran and Nicola as they are both unstoppable, unforgettable and fantastic Day Care Managers, and both deserve to win,” concluded Shirley.
Find out more about Wallington Day Care and Woking Day Care by calling 020 7730 8263 or emailing enquiries@fote.org.uk.