Meet Victoria Danvers, she’s become our port-of-call contact for pretty much everyone here at Ashton Manor as well as our admin aficionado!

Find out what a typical day looks like for Victoria, and how she’s always on hand to provide support wherever it’s needed.

How did you start your career?

I’ve held a number of roles in the hospitality sector since leaving school. After turning my hand to working as an engagement officer, I began working for a training company who specialise in Health and Social Care qualifications. I was the salesperson for Lancashire and so I used to visit all the care homes in the region.

I saw the new Ashton Manor building whilst on a walk one day and was intrigued to see what was happening there so had a look on the Evermore website. I got in touch with Gaye, the Commissioning Director, and after a few chats with her I secured a role in their HR/Admin department. I have a varied background with lots of skills and knowledge, including a great deal of admin management and customer service experience so the role was the perfect fit!

What does a typical day involve for you at Evermore?

There isn’t really a typical day in my role and no two days are the same! I do a lot of HR work which includes recruitment, onboarding new team members, running the payroll and doing all the background checks on staff such as DBS and reference checks.

From an admin perspective, I call all the new enquiries that come in, show visitors around the home and conduct meetings with families to ensure we fully understand the residents’ needs. I also support the other team members with their admin, look after internal communications and ensure all our paperwork is up to date.

Our ‘visiting pod’ has been a wonderful feature through the pandemic, allowing loved ones to visit their relatives in a comfortable and Covid-secure environment. I organise the bookings on behalf of visiting families and make sure it is cleaned and sanitized thoroughly between visits.

I also help to organise activities for the residents which makes the role fun and varied, and I love being part of it!

How do you provide support to residents and their families?

As well as being the go-to person for the team, I’m also the go-to person for residents and their families too which is lovely. Everyone asks for me because I show people around first and then email them all the documentation, so I get to know the resident and their family really well, even before they move into the home.

On moving day I’m there to greet our new residents, show them to their rooms and give them a quick tour so they know where everything is. I also always make time to introduce the residents to their care team, so they become familiar with our friendly faces.

As mentioned before, I also organise all the visiting pod timings so I’m always on hand for questions or if someone wants to know how it works. While doing this, I update the resident’s family about the menus that have been on that week and what activities we’ve been doing. So when relatives come to visit they can talk to their loved ones about what they’ve been up to.

Gaye and I ran a virtual family and friends evening in December which was helpful for everyone. We caught up with the families and updated them on the (Covid-19) testing, vaccines and visiting.

I’m very much a familiar face to the residents and their families! I know all the residents; I know all of their families and they all know me too which is really nice.

How does your role contribute to the smooth running of Ashton Manor?

I contribute to everyone’s role and provide support to anyone who needs it, I’m the first point of contact for the team. It’s great that I’ve built such strong relationships with the team, they really feel as though they can come to me about anything!

What’s been your proudest moment while working for Evermore so far?

Because I started in August, I feel proud to have been part of the Ashton Manor journey, having seen the location go from a building site to a home welcoming our first residents in October. It’s been amazing to see it all come together and have all the staff there too.

What are you looking forward to in 2021?

Hopefully some normality! I’m definitely looking forward to welcoming families into the home – when we can – and being able to put on events and activities that families can also get involved in to give it that homely feel. It will be lovely when they can come in and enjoy some afternoon tea with their loved ones to really create more of a buzz around the home – I’m most excited for that!

What’s it like being part of the Evermore team?

It’s nice to work for a business that looks after its people. Syd Coombes, the Managing Director, really cares about the team and their wellbeing and I think that’s a breath of fresh air.

When I started working at Evermore, the home wasn’t completed yet so our small team worked from an office in Lancaster and everyone was so lovely, kind, chatty and helpful which really put me at ease. I would say it’s a very welcoming company with lots of opportunities for personal and professional development.

The values and the ethos are great and you can see that they run throughout the business.

 

If you would like to find out more or book a tour, call us on 01524 566 007 or email us at enquiries@evermorecare.com.