News Update: Adult Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection

Written on 28 March 2022.

A message from Wessex Care on the Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection:

“To those residents, community customers, colleagues, and friends we left behind; we that were there on the frontline will remember you. Those that we worked with; it was and remains an absolute privilege to be amongst you.”

To mark Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection on 17 March, Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, Deborah Sturdy, released a message. She used her message to commemorate colleagues in care, as well as their NHS counterparts, who tragically passed away during the pandemic.

She noted that this was a time to remember the colleagues, friends and family who made selfless personal sacrifices to protect those most in need of care during some of the most challenging times the care sector has seen. Debrorah said she was “truly humbled by their bravery, compassion and selflessness.”

The message notes the unprecedented damage and disruption the pandemic has caused care workers, in both their personal and professional lives. It looked back on the early days of the pandemic when there were no vaccines in sight, amid a time of great uncertainty and widespread anxiety. Even in those times, Deborah says, care colleagues showed their resilience and adaptability in a crisis. Care workers in care homes and domiciliary care did everything they could to protect the most vulnerable in local communities, despite the great personal risk to themselves.

Deborah concludes the message by saying it became clear that her care colleagues consider caring to be much more than a job. It makes a real difference in the lives of vulnerable people and their families, with care workers bridging the gap between clinical and community support – a bridge that became a real lifeline for some of the most vulnerable during the pandemic.