Battling Through The Floods

Come hell or high water, committed staff ensured consistent high-quality care was never affected.

As the UK was battered with heavy rain and gale force winds this winter, committed staff across the Real Life Options group never failed to put the people we support first as they  worked tirelessly to ensure that care plans were never interrupted by the rising floods.

Whilst the adverse weather could have had a huge impact on the ability to provide planned services to vulnerable people in affected areas, loyal employees were determined to overcome the elements to ensure that services were not disrupted. Great credit is due to staff across the UK for their incredible commitment and willingness to go the extra mile.

Up in Scotland, the determined Real Life Options staff team in Inverurie worked extremely hard to ensure support was covered and no person was left alone, despite the floods and the power outage causing chaos across the town.

“All the people we support had fun and felt safe throughout the crisis time,” said Lorna Barenburg, Area Manager. “They spent time wrapped up in duvets, being supported by lamp light, head torches and cooked for on temporary camping stoves. Flasks were filled with soup and local businesses within the community rallied together offering rooms to rest and sleep, microwaves where there was power, free hot food and manpower to stack sandbags to prevent the worst of the water getting in.

The organisation and commitment from the Inverurie Service Manager Patricia Thomson and her team was second to none and was commended by Local Authority Commissioners.”

Meanwhile over in Dumfries and Galloway staff at Lowland Care, a subsidiary company of Real Life Options, showed equal impressive dedication to providing homecare services to vulnerable people. A major emergency was declared in response to the severe flooding after the River Nith burst its banks which caused many people to be evacuated and left over 2,000 homes without power.

The people we support in Dumfries and Galloway were extremely thankful for their dedication and were quick to praise the team saying, “the staff were amazing and managed to get to us no matter what the weather threw at them, they still made it” and “there were never any problems or disruptions to our service.”

“I can’t speak highly enough about all of the staff involved,” said Gary I’Anson, Service Manager. “Their professionalism and dedication to making sure that the people we support received the care they required was fantastic.”

Contingency and emergency planning was put in place which included notifying the Moffat Mountain Rescue Service regarding potential issues reaching some service users in outlining areas, however thankfully they did not need to use them.

Photo credits: BBC (used with permission)