Care Professional of the Year 2023 (2)
Every year, we hear stories about our remarkable Care Professionals who are enhancing the lives of ageing adults throughout the Home Instead network.
2023 has presented us with various challenges that we have faced so far, and we have supported our clients through some very difficult times. But 2023 has also provided opportunities where our Care Professionals have been able to demonstrate their creativity, dedication and commitment to their clients and Home Instead and we want to celebrate the wonderful work that our Care Professionals do.
At Home Instead Sheffield and Barnsley, we’ve been thinking about which of our wonderful Care Professionals we would like to nominate for the annual Home Instead Care Professional of the Year awards. This is based on the values we all share and how our Care Professionals share those values with our clients. The commitment and passion our Care Professionals show, in the way that they work with our clients and support each of our offices, is truly helping us expand the world’s capacity to care and change the perception of working in care.
For Home Instead Sheffield North, we’ve chosen Care Professional Julie Smith as our 2nd Care Professional of the Year 2023.
About Julie
Julie has previously worked in a variety of roles ranging from industries such as catering, hospitality and primary school care.
Prior to joining the team at Home Instead, she worked as a community carer for 2 years. She has now been with Home Instead for almost 3 years and is one of our most valued members of the team. In her work, Julie portrays great sensitivity, honesty and sincerity. As a carer for her for her family, too, she is a natural at what she does.
Julie has the biggest heart and makes a difference every day to the clients she visits, she is one in a million who has dedicated her life to caring for others, all without a word of complaint or need for praise. She is a quiet Care Professional who isn’t often in the spotlight, so we think it’s about time this changed.
One lady that Julie supports, Diane, originally started her journey with Home Instead just receiving solely just companionship calls as she was quite reluctant to receive care. Diane’s husband, Michael, had previously been her only carer, but this had caused him to reach breaking point. When our Care Manager, Tracey, first came to do the care consultation, it quickly became evident just how desperate the couple were to get some support. Michael was in dire need of a break and to get back to work, but needed to ensure that he would be leaving Diane in safe hands.
Diane lives with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) and was also recovering from a broken hip when Home Instead began her care. As one of the Care Professionals for Diane, Julie immediately stood out to us in the office, as well as Diane’s family. Her ability to make Diane and her family feel comfortable, trusting and at ease, was outstanding and truly followed the ‘Home Instead way’ of care with personal touch. Julie’s care also gave Michael a great boost in confidence, enabling him to leave Diane with carers and gain his life back – which was a huge thing for him.
Having gotten to know Diane so well, Julie is also extremely alert to any changes in her health. Because of this, she’s been able to suggest the need for risk assessments or notify the team with any changes she notices – this something that we find can be very rare to see in a Care Professional, as it can be difficult to notice these things from a few hours a week. Julie’s attention to detail has been and continues to be a huge help to the care team – enabling us to work as a team alongside Diane, her Care Professionals and her family.
What’s more, Julie also worked closely with Michael and the physiotherapist to rehabilitate Diane at home following her hip operation. This included supporting her with exercises set out by the physiotherapist, whilst building up her confidence and providing all the other day-to-day tasks too. Because of Julie, Diane is now walking again, which is simply just an amazing achievement and a really heart-warming thing for us and the family to have witnessed.
“Julie is an excellent carer to my wife, Diane. She’s very caring and definitely deserving of this award, she’s well thought-of by everyone she works with”
– Michael, Diane’s husband
Speaking with the care team and Care Pros who work with Julie, we can see just how much she is valued by Home Instead:
“Julie is a great Care Professional and always goes above and beyond for her clients, she is very friendly and caring and would do anything – for anyone. Julie also has an ability to make her clients feel at ease when caring for them, I’ve witnessed this from doing double ups with her and doing support visits.
In addition, when I’ve done reviews with clients and their families, they have nothing but praise for Julie, commenting that she always completes all tasks that needs doing and goes into a lot of detail with her log notes. This is especially crucial for the family as it enables them to see how their loved ones are doing. It’s this kind of consideration that makes Julie such a special Care Professional”.
– Rowen Lillford, Field Support Supervisor at Sheffield North
“Julie is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, she is always going above and beyond to help out not only her clients, but her fellow Care Professionals too. I always enjoy working with Julie.”
– Helen, Care Professional at Sheffield North
Julie in an exceptional Care Professional who regularly goes above and beyond in her role.
Her skills are varied; she is able to support clients with companionship calls whilst also adapting her skills to support more complex clients. Nothing is too much trouble for Julie, she picks up calls at the drop of a hat and is always willing to go that extra mile if it means her clients receive the care they so need.
Alongside her full-time role at Home Instead, Julie is also an unpaid family caregiver to her brother, who lives with learning difficulties, and her elderly dad, who is in his 90s. She often, whether she means to or not, reflects this personal experience in her work; applying a person-centred approach to each and every one of her clients.
Not only that, but she also takes great care in reassuring their families and anyone else she encounters, she is truly a natural at what she does and often makes it look easy – even though we know it’s not.
It’s fair to say that Julie treats her clients like family and cares for them at the same standards as she would expect her own loved ones to be treated – she applies this value across all areas of her role.