Trust chief reveals care home life during coronavirus pandemic

Sara Livadeas is Chief Executive of the Freemantle Trust, which runs ten care homes for older people in the county as well as supported living services for people with learning disabilities.

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Last week she spoke to Buckinghamshire Council leader Martin Tett about the Trust’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In one of the leader’s daily coronavirus-related vlogs, she told him: “To say that the last few weeks have been a challenge is something of an understatement.

“But I'm really proud of the way that our residents, our families and our employees have really risen to the challenge.

“We've learned new skills, we've tried new ways of working and we've really been supporting each other.”

Some care homes have seen a shortage of nurses in services, the Chief Executive said, and urged any nurses not currently employed to get in touch with the trust.

Speaking about personal protective equipment, Ms Livadeas said the Trust had “good supplies” and was maintaining “really high standards of infection control” but constantly-changing government guidance around the issue made it “very difficult” for staff.

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The Chief Executive paid tribute to Ian Goodchild from The Print Lab, an Aylesbury-based company which has made 175,000 masks for care staff.

Ms Livadeas said the Trust found it was “a bit behind the curve with technology” when the outbreak occurred meaning staff have quickly had to do remote training online to bring them up to speed.

Community foundation Hearts of Bucks gave the Trust a £5,000 grant which was used to buy tablets for residents, and a Google Chrome set has enabled Zumba lessons to be taught live by an instructor.

It was “very difficult” to close the care homes to families but through the use of technology and social-distancing solutions, residents have been finding ways to stay in touch with their loved ones.

A 100-year-old lady called Joan is visited almost every day by her daughter, son-in-law and their dog, who talk to her through her window and from a safe distance.

Another resident, 104-year-old Eileen, uses WhatsApp regularly to communicate with her family.

Care home staff have become “cooks, entertainers and hairdressers” during the pandemic and some of them have moved into the Trust’s sites to reduce the risk of infection.

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The hard-working employees have received ‘thank you’ drawings from children, chocolate eggs from Hazelmere golf club and flowers from supermarkets to boost their morale over the past few weeks.

Ms Livadeas added: “I'm really grateful to the whole team — they've absolutely risen to the challenge.

“The household staff, the cleaners, the chefs, the nurses, the care workers, the managers and the administrators.

“I'm actually in awe of the work that they do because they're keeping people safe and well and making all that life continues pretty much as normal.”

You can watch the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dOMIIKS-IA&t=1s