Appreciate Everyone

If you have been following our content for any time now, you will know that at Ocala Healthcare we really try and focus on appreciating people for the care they give. It has been fundamental to our business since we started in 2017. Appreciate Everyone is a core value because we know the challenges carers face, the lives carers touch, and the difference carers make.

We know that carers across the country are the lifeline for millions of people and as proven by the pandemic, it is only with a strong and stable Social Care that this country can continue to move forward effectively.

If Social Care wasto collapse, then millions would have to give up work to care for loved ones, where would that spiral end?

Despite all the risks and the very real possibility of Social Care falling away in front of us, services continue to be underfunded, carers continue to be underpaid and unappreciated.

At Ocala Healthcare we quickly implemented paying the Real Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation. This means that carers that work with us are paid a wage that allows people to live and not just pay bills.

Carers are also in general unappreciated for the work they do. In February 2020, the UK government classed care work as unskilled which would mean red tape for European Care Workers coming into this country. I posted on my personal Facebook page about why Carers are skilled and a good friend of mine challenged me that care work isn’t skilled. It was difficult to not fall out at with him at the time, and also not to think less of him afterwards. However, what I needed to remind myself of was that people outside of care have no idea what care work is. They have never supported someone with complex care needs, or challenging behaviour.They think it is making tea and having a natter.

We do a lot of simple things to appreciate carers the way we believe they should. For us it all starts with understanding the role. When you truly understand the day in the life of a care worker, you know they deserve respect. These are professional carers and they deserve to be treated with professionalism and respect, and this is guaranteed at Ocala Healthcare.

It may surprise many that treating people as professionals and with respect is not just a standard baseline across Social Care, but to those working in it will know that is a fact.

You cannot blame Care Managers for that. Care Managers right now have a seemingly impossible task of successfully managing their care homes to deliver outstanding care, turn a profit, be recruitment experts, a manager, a friend, and a leader. All of this whilst having their service being grossly underfunded. These people are so busy, they don’t have time to overthink if people are feeling valued and appreciated.

So, at Ocala Healthcare when we say appreciate everyone, we mean everyone. We hold events for carers that include coffee mornings, summer parties, and Christmas parties. We make sure all of the carers and services we work with receive Christmas presents every year. We host the Carer Appreciation Event, not just for our team but for care homes across the county!

As you may already know, our mission is to become the best care agency in the world are valuing and appreciating everyone in Social Care.

We are still on our journey to achieve our mission, but we can proudly say that we appreciate everyone.

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