I wish I had done it earlier

Marie Albinson has only one regret about working for Caremark, saying – “I wish I done it earlier.”

Marie had worked in various care homes and in one-to-one private care for 25 years before she joined Caremark Redcar and Cleveland in March 2023.

“In all those 25 years I never really got a thank you – since joining Caremark I’ve already received two thank you cards and many nice comments,” she said.  “It’s very rewarding personally to know you are appreciated and your work is helping people to stay in their own homes, I wish I’d done it sooner.”

Marie remembers as a child watching carers come in to help her gran care for an uncle with Down Syndrome.

“My grandmother used to say she wouldn’t be able to cope without the carers and that really stuck with me. I thought how lovely it would be to do a job where you make such a difference,” said Marie.

Marie believes that being part of a home care support team allows you more time to get to know clients than in a residential care home setting and so pick up on the little things that can make such a difference.

She recalls one elderly lady who wasn’t eating and whose condition was deteriorating so rapidly she was about to be put on end-of-life care. The reason she wasn’t eating became clear when Marie and the team spent time with her and offered some food.

“Very quietly she said, please don’t tell me it’s soup,” recalls Marie. “Her family were very loving and well-meaning and were at their wits end. It turned out because she needed a soft diet, soup was all she had been given, she was sick of it. We did her some mashed potato, followed by yoghurt and she started picking up straight away.”

 When she’s not working Marie, 45, enjoys spending time with her husband, four sons and a grandson, though she says she doesn’t really regard Caremark as work.

“I just really enjoy it, to have someone say that you have made their day gives you a wonderful feeling.”