Kathryn Mitchell – Personal Assistant (Qualified Care Worker) for 'Passion for Support'

"My job is to going into customers homes to assist with everyday things from getting them out of bed, washed and dressed and giving medication, making meals, helping with household chores and all sorts of leisurely activities, We have a really good team who go above and beyond making sure our customers can get the best care they need in their own environment so they don’t have to go into a care home. The age range is from 25 year old to 100 year old. We deal with lots of different disabilities and sometimes we have to work in twos because we use hoists and such which is nice as you’re with another carer, you don’t feel as lonely. My day starts at 8.00 in the morning until 10.00 at night, with breaks in between.

I love my job – it can be very stressful and demanding sometimes and especially now. Obviously we’re having to wear masks and PPE when we’re doing personal care with close contact and everything. Because families are not allowed to go in – they are doing the shopping and dropping it off at the door - we’re having to do more like washing and hanging washing out but it’s nice that we’re going in and helping them. The job has changed a lot recently – it’s quite draining because you have to constantly wash your hands and wearing masks and all the PPE and changing gloves all the time whereas before we didn’t really need to do that but with what’s going on at the moment we have to be extra vigilant."

2.5.20