Edinburgh care worker finds renewed purpose in her role with dementia patients

The best feeling in the world? Care worker Hannah Waring says it’s making her dementia patients smile. But it’s been a long journey into the care sector for Hannah who worked in many different roles before she decided on her current path.

Talking about her journey, Hannah says, “I tried a few different things. I did a modern apprenticeship in a nursery then decided to train as a chef. The pressure and unsociable hours weren’t for me though.”

Hannah knew it was time for a change and was attracted to social care because she enjoyed interacting with people and building relationships. After starting work in a care home looking after patients with MS, she made the decision to return to college to gain a social care qualification. Once qualified, she joined leading social care provider CrossReach, and hasn’t looked back since.

After experiencing a couple of different roles within the CrossReach family of residential services in Polmont and Aberdeen, Hannah returned to her home city of Edinburgh, caring for the older people who are residents of Queen’s Bay Lodge.

She says of the role: “It’s a lovely place to work. All the staff are really dedicated and very good at their jobs. It’s a really supportive team environment. I know if there’s ever anything going on with me or I have any issues, I can share them with my managers and they’ll be understanding and supportive.”

“There’s plenty of training too. I’ve done courses on moving and handling, fire training and how to help the residents and myself cope with potentially stressful situations such as being washed or dressed or dealing with incontinence. I’m also studying to gain my SVQ 3 in Social Care and my rota is organised to give me time to complete the online assignments.”

There are, of course, challenges too.

Throughout the pandemic, Hannah has seen just how difficult the job can be and says this has given her a new appreciation for the work she does: “I’m proud of my job because of Covid. I’ve seen how much the service users rely on us and need good care staff to support them. It’s also been a challenging time, but the team at Queen’s Bay is fantastic, we’ve all supported each other, and CrossReach also offered free counselling if we needed it.”

“One of the things I enjoy best about my role is working with some of the residents who have dementia. If someone isn’t as good at communicating, when you can make them smile, it’s just the best feeling. You can be just chatting away to them, and then, all of a sudden, you make that connection.”

This is a sponsored article brought to you in association with Crossreach.

For information on careers with Crossreach, visit: https://www.crossreach.org.uk/careers