The COVID-19 Recovery and Rehabilitation project was kindly funded by The Rayne Foundation to help care homes share with each other what they are doing to help individuals living, dying, visiting and working in care homes for older people to move on from COVID-19.  This story relates to Promoting a positive culture, which is an important part of Developing best practice together.

If you have a story to share, please email us on mhlcharity@outlook.com.

As one care home shared… 

We have come through a lot. However, now looking back over the very difficult times, it seems like a natural outcome was a closer bond developing between staff, residents and relatives. It may be considered strange, but the difficulty made us work together in a way that we probably hadn’t done before. It was us against the virus and fighting for sanity in our home. Although we are still dealing with very challenging situations in the home, going through those first difficult days brought a sense of camaraderie. Sadly, we lost some staff as they left due to fear of infection, or other medical reasons, but we didn’t let this affect us too badly. The feeling of camaraderie has truly helped to nurture a positive culture in the home. One of the good things the pandemic has brought us is a renewed understanding that the positive culture in our home is not solely dependent on one party (staff or management), but is a joint effort.

 

It was good to see management really supporting us in the middle of the pandemic. For instance, they were sending texts to staff to encourage them. Sometimes the manager couldn’t be in the home, but we still received these encouraging words, and it felt like they truly understood what we were going through. During staff meetings, we would encourage each other to stay strong and keep fighting, as we believed that kind of attitude would keep your immune system strong! Another example of how a positive culture was promoted was our manager cooking hot meals for the team. We worked long and difficult shifts in those days, and she ensured that we got hot meals during the shifts. Such a demonstration of care for us is invaluable. It was like she rolled up her sleeves and got in with us.

 

Such a demonstration also has a rippling effect across the home. Overall, you can sense the feeling of togetherness and bonding. This was obvious in the aftermath of the first lockdown, and you can still see the positive effects of it till today. We have learnt some lessons and tend to value each other a bit better now. To begin with, when the pandemic first hit, management struggled with how to respond; but more and more, there has been a demonstration of care and understanding in a way that is appreciated by staff. Currently, the mental and physical exhaustion of staff has increased the need for continued support and the need to nurture a positive culture, which serves as a continued reassurance to not only staff, but residents and their relatives.

What positive changes have stayed in place in your care home since the pandemic? (we’d love to hear from you)