An apprentice who began her career working in an office role for a Cumbria care providers has been inspired to make the jump to providing support for its users.
Kacey Sewell, 20, of Maryport, began working for Bellcare, based in Workington, as a business administration apprentice three years ago.
However, last year she began volunteering for the company as part of its Bellcare Buddies scheme, which involves people donating time to provide friendship and support to its users.
“I’m an active person. I never like to sit down for too long. I was always enthusiastic about being more hands-on,” said Kacey.
“I was working in the office but if there was ever a shortage and they were struggling to cover anything then I would volunteer to go out. As part of the Bellcare Buddies I had three main people I would go and spend time with and have a crack with and I just really enjoyed it.”
In April Kacey made the move to working full-time as a frontline carer for Bellcare, undertaking the necessary training to provide essential services for people each day. She mainly cares for people in Cockermouth, seeing as many as eight a day.
She still spends one day a week in the office in order to complete her apprenticeship, with her final assessment coming up in October.
“I just love helping people and seeing how happy they are to see me,” she said. “It really is the highlight of the day for some people and it’s just so great to make people’s days.”
Bellcare provides essential daily care to more than 250 people in their own homes, mainly in West Cumbria.
Registered manager Debbie Ellwood said demand for its services had soared in the wake of the pandemic. This summer, the company has turned to recruiting as many as 15 staff from Africa to help meet demand.
Debbie said: “The ageing population in Cumbria and the number of people leaving hospital in need of care after the pandemic has really seen demand for our services rise.
“It’s a challenge to recruit enough people from Cumbria and so it’s really fantastic to see someone local like Kacey make the move to become a frontline carer. She has just the right positive attitude and enthusiasm for people that we require from our carers and she’s doing a great job.”
