It’s that time of year again when the process for the Comfort Keepers Carer of the Year 2015 commences. The overall winner will be announced in November. First up, our 17 contenders for the Carer of the Year position are being announced this week and we’ll be profiling and interviewing each of them in the coming weeks. Our awards are one of the ways in which Comfort Keepers celebrates the work of all our professional carers and applaud those who go on to win awards. This is the fourth year for our Carer of the Year awards.
If you would like to learn more about our Carer of the Year awards event, how it is judged, how people are nominated and more, do read on.
1. How are carers nominated or chosen for the awards?
Carers don’t have to enter the awards, the managers in each of the Comfort Keepers 17 offices nominate a carer from their office. Clients can also nominate a carer during their bi-annual client satisfaction survey and many of our clients do so. The operations managers then have the task of choosing four finalists from those 17 home carers. One finalist is from each region: Dublin offices, the Kildare and Ardee offices, the Limerick / Galway / Clare and North Tipperary offices, and the Wicklow and Cork offices.
2. What is the aim / mission of the awards?
The Comfort Keepers Carer of the Year awards aims to celebrate and reward our carers who are particularly excellent at their job. It’s a difficult task to choose 17, then four, and then a single winner from our 1300 home carers. Attention to detail, empathy, kindness, practicality, excellent time-keeping, reliability, ability to work on their own initiative, responsible, responsive – these are just some of the traits displayed by our carers and from which we have to choose the best.
3. Are all carers eligible to enter?
Yes, all carers are eligible to be selected.
4. What is the judging criteria? How can a carer demonstrate their ability to be ‘carer of the year’?
We take a number of people’s opinions into account when judging our carers. Our clients provide us with feedback during their satisfaction surveys, public health nurses are also asked for their opinions and of course, the client care managers will be familiar with the carers too. The carers are judged on measures such as their punctuality, their flexibility and helpfulness, their reliability at logging in electronically as they arrive and leave clients’ houses. As you can see, there are many measures to be taken into account when identifying a representative from each office.
5. What does winning the awards mean for the carers – in terms of personal / professional development?
The finalists and the overall winner all benefit in terms of personal reward and professional development. Aside from the personal achievement and a trophy, they each win a voucher. They can list it as an achievement on their curriculum vitae and they can develop their career to progress to a reviewer or mentor role.
6. Does it create huge excitement and buzz?
Yes, it does, we have 17 presentations, one in each of the offices. Sometimes our local winners are featured in local newspapers and on local radio and then the regional winners are interviewed too. It is a wonderful achievement and creates great excitement. Managers and co-ordinators are delighted to see the “best of the best” being recognised and we all look forward to the big announcment in November. As an award-winning homecare company, we want to see our carers sharing in our success with their own individual awards too.
This year we are going to feature each of the 17 office winners so you can get to know them even better and to celebrate their achievements. We will be sharing the news of the finalists with you and of course, the overall winner, in November.
If you have been thinking of becoming a carer for some time, what are you waiting for? Check out our vacancies and you never know, you may be nominated for the ‘carer of the year’ next year.
