Continued Care, a home care provider operating in the North Yorkshire areas of Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon, recently paid tribute to their dedicated staff team at a company celebration evening.
The Harrogate Advertiser reports that carers and managers Continued Care's Harrogate and Ripon branches gathered in late June to recognise their achievements in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic challenge, as well as to present some awards for longevity of service for certain members of staff.
Speaking to the news outlet, Continued Care director, Samantha Harrison, hailed the efforts of her colleagues.
She said: “Working through Covid has been one of the hardest things we have experienced but through it all our staff have shown great determination and resilience, working together as a team and putting others before themselves.
“Before the pandemic, their jobs were hard enough but our staff have been selfless and focused on doing their best for our clients who are among the most vulnerable in our community.
"Their kindness, compassion and generosity has been inspirational. We wanted to say thank you and tell each of them how amazing they are and how proud we are of them.”
During the evening, Continued Care handed out the annual Carer of the Year Award for both the Harrogate and Ripon branches, the winners of which are voted on by a combination of service users and their families, and fellow staff members.
Carers Sophie Philip (Harrogate branch) and Janet Bettridge (Ripon) were awarded with the accolades, and Harrison heaped praise on both for their respective achievements.
“Sophie and Janet are outstanding carers and worthy winners of their awards. They are inspirational in the care they give, as well as being valued and respected by their colleagues.”
Also present at the celebratory evening was Continued Care’s area manager, Mike Herrington, who handed out 65 individual awards for long-term service to carers who had been with the company for over five years.
Given the well-documented challenges around staff retention in the social care sector at present, Herrington spoke of his pleasure and pride at being able to award staff members for longevity of service.
“This is testament to the quality of our staff and what they do for us, as well as what we do for them, and how we all work together to make sure people get the best service we can give them,” he said.
