Answering the call to support frontline services in the battle against coronavirus

Matt Curtis, 21st Century Schools Project Manager, has swapped strategic planning for residential care during the Coronavirus pandemic

Wednesday 6 May, 2020

In a recent interview with Bro Radio celebrating our Rainbow Heroes, Matt explained why he felt compelled to support a frontline service.

“One evening, I was working at home and I saw on our internal web pages that we were looking for volunteers to be redeployed to key areas. I thought I would be able to reprioritise my work to free up some time so I filled in a form straight away,” said Matt.

“The major reason for me was that I’m relatively young and I don’t come into contact with people who are shielding or are vulnerable adults. I felt it was important that I put myself forward for these important service areas knowing that they would be struggling at this time.

“I said I would go anywhere really and the first call I got was from social services saying we are looking to train some people up to be redeployed and would I be interested in having a look at what they had on offer?

“Within a few days I was on a course learning about manual handling and all of the equipment that they use in social care."

"After that they gave me a call asking if I’d be interested in any of the roles and I said ‘absolutely’. It was either going out to residents’ homes to support them or working at one of the four residential care homes we have in the Vale.

“I decided I would support one of the residential care homes and it ended up being Ty Dewi Sant in Penarth. I give out medication to the residents and order medication so we can make sure we have enough during this time. I’ve also helped develop contingency plans and understand the risk associated with the coronavirus.”

Matt is one of a number of staff members who have offered to support a frontline service during the pandemic. It is those staff, as well as the existing frontline workforce that we as a Council are celebrating with our Rainbow Heroes campaign. 

Last week we unveiled a series of specially-designed roadsigns that are being placed in prominent locations throughout the Vale, giving special thanks to the groups going above and beyond during this unprecedented period.

“All the staff that work in the care homes, whether they be carers, in the kitchens or domestic carers, they’re all absolutely amazing at their job. They get on with the residents so well,” added Matt.

“I’ve spoken to the residents a lot over the last couple of weeks and got to know them quite well. They have nothing but good things to say about the care home staff and the care they are being provided. It is incredibly rewarding.

“I was most apprehensive about going into that environment, not knowing what I was doing and getting in the way. I didn’t want the staff to see me as something else they had to deal with at a difficult time.

“But everyone in the homes is going through a huge change at the moment, they’re all getting used to this new environment and delivering the care in different circumstances. That’s meant we can all help each other.”