Second award for caring Kate

Caring seems to be in the family for the recipient of a Going the Extra Mile Award at the Norfolk home care company Extra Hands.

Kate Davis won the award for the first time in January last year, and has been chosen as the September winner this year.

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Her mum and aunt were both district nurses, and her daughter is also heading for a career in care work, so becoming a carer was in the blood when Kate, 43,  left school and joined the profession.

She has been with family-run Extra Hands for 11 years and works from the Horsham St Faith office in a role that she loves.

“I have always worked in care, ever since I left school and it’s such a rewarding job,” she said.

“I enjoy what I do and it’s nice to hear their stories and how life was from years ago. I couldn’t do anything else now.”

Kate’s daughter Alisha, 20, is hoping to also start working in the caring profession and the family is also planning ahead to celebrate her son Finley’s 18th birthday in October.

She said that working through the pandemic had been a difficult time but she was determined to keep service users calm and reassured by maintaining her regular calls and ensuring everyone was looked after.

“It was a difficult time for everyone, but you just had to keep going,” she said.

Kate was nominated for the September GEM Award for her ‘caring and professional’ manner. Aside from being a previous winner, Kate also celebrated her tenth anniversary with the company last November

Extra Hands has been running for almost 30 years and provides a variety of home care packages across Norfolk, to suit all requirements and budgets. The GEM winner at its Heacham office was former mechanic Peter Cox.