HaloCare’s Care Hub is supported by a 24/7 expert team with experience in working across a variety of areas and specialities in healthcare. The team behind the Care Hub are an integral part of HaloCare and are the familiar voice that our clients and their loved ones speak to each day.
Ava grew up watching those around her work within a caring capacity which inspired her to move into a career in the healthcare industry. She shares with us what a typical day working in the Care Hub looks like and her view on what the future of health technology will look like!
What pathway led you towards your career working within the HaloCare Care Hub?
From a young age, I knew I wanted to work with people. I am a bubbly, chatty person and I love being able to help and offer support to those who need it. My grandmother has volunteered with the St. Vincent De Paul for over 40 years, and I started helping her and volunteering as a teenager, this is where I first experienced the rewarding feeling of being able to offer help to those in need. I decided to pursue a degree in healthcare after being inspired by my auntie who is a nurse. I discovered my course when researching degrees in healthcare; Health Sciences in SETU Waterford was a new course that combined several areas of healthcare from nursing to social care and health promotion. Through the course, I gained experience in care of the older adult, intellectual disability care, social work, and many other areas. One particular area that peaked my interest was connected health and the area of eHealth.
“My first work experience placement was when I was 16, I went to a nursing home that was managed by nuns – the head sister told me I would have made a lovely nun!”
I enjoy the fast paced, ever-evolving landscape of new techniques and approaches to the provision of care. HaloCare is one of the leading companies providing assistive living technologies here in Ireland. I was inspired by our ethos of empowering wellness to enable our clients to live longer, healthier lives in their own homes, so I applied for a role in HaloCare and I haven’t looked back!
Can you describe what a typical day working in the Care Hub might look like?
Every day in the hub is different which makes our job as Care Specialists very interesting! A typical day in the hub begins at 08.00 each morning, or 07.45 if you’re anything like me and love having a chat before we start! The first and arguably most important task each day is the handover. During the handover the staff finishing up their shift relay all the important information to the day staff taking over. This information could include details on calls made, the condition of a resident and any other relevant details staff may need to know. The handover is vital to ensure that hub staff are armed with the most up-to-date details about our clients so that we can care for them efficiently and effectively.
The next task is the checklist. This is where the Care Specialists review the comprehensive, check on each client individually and document anything that is outside of their usual routine, for example, a change in movement patterns, or disturbed sleeping patterns, etc.
“We are always keeping an eye on alerts. We would read the clients ‘day story’ which is essentially their activity centre where we can view information on their daily patterns such as if they ate recently, hydration levels, when their last movement was at night, etc.
This helps give the circle of care peace of mind that their loved one is being looked after”.
My favourite part of the day is the time we spend doing our comfort calls. A comfort call is a daily chat between one of the Care Specialists and our clients, and the purpose is to provide comfort to the resident through a nice conversation with a friendly voice.
“Doing the comfort calls is so rewarding. Some of our clients are lonely or they might not get to see their family until the weekend, we are another connection for them to have in this time where they might not speak to anyone else”
During these calls, hub staff and clients often build strong relationships getting to know each other, chit-chatting about the residents’ hobbies, the daily ‘goings-on', maybe what’s on the TV at the moment, and you can guarantee the weather will always be mentioned! What else would us Irish chat about!
What skill/quality do you find that you use most working in a caring capacity?
The quality I use most is empathy, without a doubt. Empathy allows us as carers to relate to our clients and understand how they feel.
“It can be difficult when you’re communicating through a screen and that’s why it’s so important to have empathy and understand that our client needs us and to put ourselves in their position and understand how they might be feeling”.
It drives us to do our best for each client every time we interact with them, that may be spending extra time on a comfort call when they are feeling down or treating them with dignity and respect when it comes to responding to and dealing with their various needs as part of their care plan.
Empathy is the quality that inspires us to live and work following the HaloCare values of promoting wellness within the lives of our clients, so they can live the fullest life possible in their own homes.
What do you find most interesting about health technology?
It's so exciting to be involved in the change that is happening within healthcare at the moment. Traditional healthcare was all carried out face-to-face but here in Halocare, we are aiding in championing the transformation that is occurring to alter the focus from hospital care to community care, promoting residents and service users to live healthy and fulfilling lives within their own homes.
We are always trialling new devices and looking at ways we can continue to improve the service for each client – we are always learning which is great!
It's both exciting and rewarding to have your work make such a profound positive impact on the lives of the people we care for.