Career change proves the right move for Norfolk carer

After 15 years at a cleaning company, an area manager decided it was time for a fresh start and applied for a job at a Norfolk care firm where, five years on, she feels she has found her calling.

Dawn Daniels joined family-run care provider Extra Hands in July 2018 with little idea whether the work would suit her.

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“I just thought I’d like to try something different,” she said. “It’s not what I ever thought I would end up doing, but I thought I would give it a try. You don’t know if you like something unless you try it – and when I did, I really loved it.

“What I like most about it is that you meet some really nice people – the clients are just lovely.”

The 57-year-old from Catton is attached to the company’s Broadland office, at Horsham St Faith, where staff celebrated her five-year anniversary at Extra Hands with a card and bouquet.

“It was just before my birthday and my husband wondered who was sending me flowers!” she continued. “It was a lovely surprise.

“Extra Hands is a pretty good place to work.”

Mrs Daniels is appreciated by those she visits as well as her colleagues.

“You get to know people so that you can tell when they’re not well,” she explained. “There’s one lady that we’ve sent to hospital twice in the last couple of months. When you’re the main carer, you notice the symptoms. She’s back home now and keeps saying, ‘Don’t you leave me!’ and I say I won’t.

“Another lady that I’d looked after since the beginning passed away, which was hard, but I went to the funeral and I still keep in touch with her son.”

“When I was much younger, I used to work in a hospital in catering, and someone tried to get me to become a nurse, but I wouldn’t,” she added. “Now I realise how rewarding care work is, and I would say to anyone to give it a go. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.”

Extra Hands provides bespoke, home-care packages across Norfolk to suit all budgets, and has an office in Heacham as well as Horsham St Faith in Broadland.

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