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Celebrating our expert nursing teams on Nurses' Day

At our 5 specialist nursing homes across Somerset, our expert team of nurses provides hospital-standard care in an environment where people can feel at home.

This Nurses’ Day (12th May 2023), we celebrate our incredible nurses and clinical teams, and everything they do to make a difference to residents living with complex needs or long-term medical conditions. 

Members of our nursing team share what inspires them to carry our their roles, and the support they offer to the people they care for. 

Alan Roca, Clinical Manager at Calway House in Taunton

“I have always gained motivation from helping others to achieve their goals and live the life they choose.

“Being a nurse at Calway House for over 15 years has provided me with the unique opportunity to support elderly people towards achieving a healthy state of being and the best quality of life.

“I genuinely want to make a difference in all our residents’ lives, and I know I have the skills, characteristics and commitment to do so. 

“Nursing is a profession that never stops giving. It gives me inner peace to know that I have been able to help somebody.”

Laime Leone, Nurse Supervisor at Calway House in Taunton

I always wanted to be a nurse. It’s in my blood to help people, and I’m particularly passionate about wound care and would healing.

“I work as a Nurse Supervisor at Calway House, and have been part of the Somerset Care team since 2006. It’s my job to make sure our residents are safe and well-looked-after, as well as supervise and train our nursing team.

“We’re seeing frailer and frailer residents come to us who need more support and treatment. Many of them are in the final stage of their life, and we want to make sure they have best care we can give them. It’s so important to build relationships with our residents and their loved ones, and treat them as family. Simple things like listening to them and laughing with them really make a difference.

“I want to encourage young people to join the nursing profession. It’s a rewarding profession, and I still think I made the right choice to join it. I cannot imagine myself working in any other environment.”

Sara Rixon, Clinical Manager at Stockmoor Lodge in Bridgwater

“As Clinical Manager at Stockmoor Lodge, I oversee the care of all of our residents with nursing requirements, and support the team of expert nurses who care for them. It’s a fast-paced role, which allows me to apply the skills and knowledge I gained as a nurse in hospital and care settings, whilst drilling deeper into understanding our residents’ individual needs.

“I love that my role allows me to interact and build relationships with both residents and team members. It really does feel like one big family at Stockmoor Lodge, and is a world away from my previous nursing agency experience, where I felt like a lone worker, and hospital-based roles where I didn’t have the opportunity to really get to know the people I was caring for. 

I’m so glad that Somerset Care encouraged and supported me to progress my nursing career, enlarging my role and building my confidence and experience in the process.

“I would encourage anyone looking to start or progress their nursing career to consider doing so in a specialist nursing home like Stockmoor Lodge. Every day is different, there is always something new to learn, and you get to see the difference you are making to the residents in your care.

“I once considered leaving the nursing profession, but now I wouldn’t want to do anything else. “

 

Mercy Virgin, Nurse at Calway House in Taunton

“I have worked at Calway House for almost 5 years now, and I feel happy and fulfilled in my nursing profession.

Caring for people is my great passion. Looking after them in a care home setting gives me the opportunity to provide them with the high quality of care they need to have the best quality of life possible.

“It is important to me to deliver continuity of care, supporting residents and their families, helping to manage their symptoms, and relieve their suffering, whether that be physical, mental or emotional.”

Find out more about living and working in a specialist Somerset Care nursing home

For more information about our nursing homes, the nursing care we provide, and opportunities to join our nursing team, please click on the buttons below.

Learn about our nursing careJoin our nursing team

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