Maxine’s Story – Why do you Love to Care?

One of our carers Maxine, has recently started working for Radfield Home Care Havering & Brentwood. Maxine has kindly shared with us her past life experiences and why she has chosen to work as a carer for our Radfield family.

Maxine has previously worked for a variety of companies but has never been a carer before. She feels that her previous experience has helped provide a greater understanding of care, as she holds a lot of experience in customer service. Her previous roles have included managing a travel agency for 10 years, running a restaurant in Spain for 2 years, working at Tottenham football stadium, a security guard at the London 2012 Olympics and working in an airport for 5 years. However, Maxine has always had a desire to explore a career in care, so she decided to leave her job and re-train as a carer, supporting older people.

Whilst in Spain, Maxine was also a holiday rep and used to take older people out on coach trips. They would travel around the Alicante area, and when the bus stopped for various visits, Maxine would go on a tour with them. Maxine explained:

“I used to chase the groups around Alicante, as they would run off the bus, like excited children and it was my job to keep them all together; I had such fun times with them all.”

It was Maxine’s nan, who is 93, who really inspired her to join the caring profession. Maxine added:

“nan likes to go to the pub, restaurants or go out for a latte in the local coffee shop – I love spending time with her and now that I am working with older people as my clients, my favourite part of my job, is hearing that it makes people’s day.”

Why do you love to care?

We asked Maxine why she loves to care and what her favourite thing about caring was. Maxine described:

“I like the flexibility of the hours in the care industry, I love helping our clients and brightening their days. I’ve come to realise that you have to carefully understand each individual as everyone’s mind is different and you have to go into their homes with an open mind.

I also love the consistency of seeing the same people each week and I feel bad when it’s time to leave, but I always ask if there is anything else that I can do just so they know they have that extra bit of help. Then I can leave the house knowing that they are happy and that the clients have been cared for properly.”

Radfield have a state of the art technology app called the ‘PASS system’. This helps keep our carers up to date with their care visits and keep the office up to date with the care notes and visits whilst in our clients homes. Maxine likes having the peace of mind that she can access this information and prepare for her care visits in advance of each care call and provides extra confidence in the care she provides.

Maxine comments:

“I love working for Radfield Home Care as they are always very understanding and supportive. Sometimes, I may feel slightly anxious visiting a new client, as a new carer, however, the Radfield team will always provide the support I need and with the ongoing training they provide, this gives me the confidence to deal with any new situation professionally.”