Our January 2021 newsletter is now out, with the latest news from Charlotte Straker House.
We wanted to share this story with you, to show the resilience and care of our staff team, who can now truly be called Charlotte Straker “Angels”.
Trudy Jewitt, a care assistant, was diagnosed with Covid just before Christmas and after a tough recovery from the virus, returned to Charlotte Straker House after the completion of the mandatory self isolation period.
One of our residents is an avid Newcastle United supporter, and wears nothing but black and white each Sunday. Before she caught the virus, Trudy helped him choose and dress each weekend in a black and white shirt, black trousers, and even black and white underwear and socks! She asked our resident why he didn’t wear a Newcastle United football top, and he told her that he had never owned one.
So, on her day off, Trudy trawled the web and found a reasonably priced Newcastle top which she paid for and wrapped as a Christmas present. She was ready to hand over the parcel, but unfortunately was diagnosed as Covid positive and had leave work. When she returned, she gave our resident the present, and he was absolutely delighted that he was now able to wear a proper Newcastle football shirt! You can see the happiness in his face in the attached photo. This is just one instance of how our care team always goes above and beyond when caring for our residents – they are treated as if they were our own family.
Thank you to all those who nominated us in the #12days #movementforgood competition run by Ecclesiastical Insurance during December. Members of the public were invited to nominate a charity to win a share of £120,000 and winners were drawn at random.We have just been notified that we have won £1000! Thank you so much to Ecclesiastical – this money will go towards our Covid19 Isolation Unit at Charlotte Straker House. Ecclesiastical is one of the UK’s top five company givers to charity and has donated £50m to charity in three years – thank you very much to them and also to our supporters for entering us into the competition. You can see the full list of winners here https://www.movementforgood.com/12days
As a part of our response to the recent Covid-19 outbreak we are committed to taking every precaution to ensure the safety and well-being of our residents. As part of our deep cleaning approach we asked a team from Crewe Cleaning services to provide an additional layer of “fogging” decontamination to give the best protection to residents and staff. Crewe Cleaning have been amazingly responsive in attending Charlotte Straker House and so professional in their approach to the job in hand.
(The photo shows Lyndsey from Crewe Cleaning and our Manager Pam Crawley after the decontamination had been completed.)
Our manager Pam Crawley had a lovely surprise this week when our staff team presented her with a hamper. They had all clubbed together to buy a wonderful collection of goodies, and had signed a card to express their thanks for her support and hard work over the recent Covid crisis at Charlotte Straker House.
As one member of staff said, “She has been here 100 percent of the time since the beginning, working incredibly long shifts and staying away from her family so that she could be on call day and night. Through the height of the outbreak, she did her best to ensure we were all coping, and gave us so much support and care – often stepping in to do shifts when staff fell ill with the virus. We are so grateful for her strength, resilience and kindness – we love her to bits!”
Pam replied “I was completely taken aback and humbled, and it’s quite overwhelming that the team should take the time to think of me whilst everyone is so busy. I can’t put into words how proud of each and every one of the staff I am and how very fortunate I am to lead such an amazingly committed team. Thank you to everyone – I can’t wait to sample all the nice things in my hamper!
“It has been an extremely difficult beginning to 2021 at Charlotte Straker House. We are still very busy dealing with Covid infections and we are devastated to report that we have had some resident deaths due to this dreadful virus. As you can imagine it is an extremely difficult time for residents’ families and our own care team. We are carefully managing any current Covid infections through our Covid Isolation Unit.
Many of our staff members are also Covid positive, and those remaining at work have had to shoulder the burden and have been working extremely long hours. The numbers of staff infected with Covid has meant that our receptionist, administrators, handyman, trustees and volunteers have stepped in to manage ancillary tasks such as laundry and food preparation.
We are hugely grateful for the resilience and flexibility of our whole team and we want those who are too unwell to work to solely concentrate on their own recovery and to only return to work when they are fully restored to health.
The management and trustees are doing their very best to lift spirits and protect, as far as possible, the team’s mental and physical health. We are also very proud that care of residents remains exemplary and we are doing our absolute utmost to protect them from this shocking virus.
Some of our staff, including Pam, our Registered Manager, have been staying in accommodation provided by The Angel of Corbridge, to ensure they don’t infect their own families and to remain close in case of emergencies. Thank you so much to the team at the Angel for allowing us to stay!
Again, the support of local businesses and the community is keeping us afloat. Thank you so much to those who have donated money, gifts, food and supplies – from the bottom of our heart, it is very much appreciated.”
We thought you would like to see some photos from Christmas Day at Charlotte Straker House.
Even though we were deep into lockdown and residents and staff had to social distance, everyone enjoyed a proper Christmas lunch (with all the trimmings) in our decorated dining rooms, served by our staff in elf outfits!
Our staff do their very best to ensure that life continues as normal and our residents really enjoyed their Christmas turkey, the Queen’s Speech and then a delicious evening buffet.
I’d like to personally thank all those who have sent supportive messages and gifts to our staff and residents.
After our post was published yesterday we have received gifts of hand creams, chocolates, toiletries and many other small presents. It has been a high point in our week to be able to share them out amongst our residents and staff.
It has been a very emotional few days. We are all so disappointed that the virus has reached our doors, but our staff are working flat out to keep our residents safe and well.
Your kind gifts and messages mean so much to me and the Charlotte Straker team. Many of us have been moved to tears by the notes of support from our local community.
Thank you so much for your gifts, and we will definitely be in touch to let you know any new developments in our home.
Berenice Groves
Chair of the Trustees
Thanks to our dedicated staff following every possible precaution and procedure, we have managed to keep Charlotte Straker House free of Covid infection for over 10 months. Unfortunately, even though we have been making herculean efforts, we regret to confirm that we have experienced a number of cases in our care home in the last two weeks.
Our wonderful staff are working flat out to ensure that the virus is contained as far as possible. We are following Public Health England guidance to ensure our residents and staff are kept safe and to eradicate this horrible illness. We are pleased to report that both the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccine are being rolled out to our residents and staff through the government vaccination programme.
We would like to thank all our dedicated staff, families of residents and local businesses who are helping with various tasks to keep Charlotte Straker running smoothly. We are so very grateful to be part of such a supportive community.
Because of the level of infection control measures we need to take we are quickly running through our stocks of handcream for our staff, who are suffering from cracked and sore hands. If anyone has any unopened bottles we would be grateful for a donation or anything else you feel will cheer our staff up. They can be dropped off near the fundraising sign at the bottom of our drive or outside our summer house. Please do not drop off anything at reception or the door of Charlotte Straker House.
We will keep you informed of any further developments, but if anyone has any urgent enquiries please ring our office on 01434 633 999 and leave a message
The Charlotte Straker Project
Charlotte Straker, Cookson Close
Corbridge, NE45 5HB
01434 633999
office@charlottestraker.org.uk
