Care home manager wins healthcare award
A care home manager who has dedicated more than half her life to social care, has been named a Healthcare Hero in a nationwide search celebrating key workers.
Danielle Bullent from Gorleston-on-Sea near Great Yarmouth has been awarded the accolade in Quinyx’s inaugural Workforce Heroes Awards.
She was nominated by her colleagues from Laurel Lodge residential home in Norwich and her former manager from Park House in Great Yarmouth.
Ms Bullent was involved in organising a surprise anniversary celebration for Derek and Phyllis Mapes. The couple, both aged 90, were unable to celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary as they had been apart for eight months because of lockdown.
After Derek joined Phyllis at Laurel Lodge in the autumn, Danielle and the team organised a special meal with entertainment, to commemorate the occasion.
The 35-year-old mum-of-two began working in the care industry as a care assistant, aged just 17. Steadily progressing up the career ladder, in October 2019 she accepted the role of manager with the Black Swan Care Group home, after completing an NVQ in Leadership and Management.
After only 12 weeks in the new position, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Danielle recalls how the past year has been challenging but how she is extremely proud of keeping the care home COVID-free, while prioritising residents’ mental health and wellbeing and maintaining a positive environment for all.
‘I was new to the role and there were many different protocols and procedures to implement around infection control, PPE and safeguarding residents because of the virus outbreak – so it was a lot to get my head around at the start!’ she said.
‘There were some real lows – residents missed their families, and the team was faced with significant additional pressure. But looking back they did, and are still doing, a tremendous job. I couldn’t be prouder.’
Daniel Holmberg, country manager for workforce management solution Quinyx UK was one of the judges for the Workforce Heroes Awards.
‘We had some really strong entries for the accolade of Healthcare Hero – it is so hard to pick just one winner when there’s so many fantastic examples of people going over and above at work,’ he said.
‘What really stood out from Danielle’s entry was that she’d been nominated several times by her team and she is so passionate about making sure everyone is happy and healthy – both physically and mentally. She faced the pandemic head on – leading by example, making her a very deserved winner.’
Photo Credit – Supplied