Experiences of the Workplace - Merafield View Nursing Home

Today we took a small group of students to Merafield View to look at the types of jobs needed to run a care home. Merafield View is a nursing home for up to 40 residents and has 75 members of staff to keep the place running smoothly. The team are led by Sally who recently won a YMCA Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to the home. 

Kath introduced us to Millie the therapy dog and spoke to us about her role as Activities Coordinator. Kath arranges lots of activities including karaoke, bingo, craft sessions even bringing in alpacas and goats! In all the careers visits I have completed, this is the first one where I've been greeted by an elf sat on Santa Claus' shoulders! 

Then we talked to Lisa who is the administrator and told us about her varied role greeting residents and visitors, ensuring health and safety measures are in place, dealing with general queries and making sure everyone gets paid! 

Sue and Lotty spoke to us about catering for 40 residents and the different diets and needs that need to be met. Lotty makes the most beautiful cakes and we saw some examples of this in Lisa's most recent newsletter. 

Finally we met Emily who talked us through her role as Lead HCA. She talked at length about her journey from studying health and social care at Sixth Form to joining Merafield View as a Health Care Assistant then working her way up to Lead HCA. She talked us through the various shift patterns and how she finds the role incredibly rewarding.

Thank you Sally and team for making us feel so welcome and answering all of our questions. One of our students described the visit as 'totally awesome'!