Carer from Heacham office of Extra Hands wins award for her dedication

A carer who works from the Heacham office of Extra Hands has been chosen as the company's latest winner of an in-house award.

Helping people and contributing to society are two of the reasons Daniela Silva, 27, of Terrington St Clement, chose to become a carer.

She has now been named as the latest winner of the homecare company's Going the Extra Mile (GEM) awards.

Daniela, has been with Extra Hands, whose Heacham office was rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, for nearly three years and enjoys her rewarding job.

Her dedication saw her nominated for the GEM awards, and now she'll receive a trophy and vouchers to mark her success.

One nomination said: “I think she is amazing, intuitive, caring and will always go that extra mile should you be having a bad day. She researches conditions and that is an asset to the company.”

Daniela said: “I absolutely love this job and it is very gratifying to be nominated. I have never won before. I do not know a single person in this job who does not deserve an award.”

Having arrived in England four years ago, she was determined to carve a caring career for herself after working as a waitress and in factories to begin with.

“This was the best company to come to work for," she said. "They pay while you’re training, which is excellent and they really take care of you."

Daniela, who is married to Andre, has been putting in the hard work during the pandemic, carrying out additional tasks to ensure the safety and comfort of her service users at Extra Hands, which offers a range of caring services, including wellbeing checks which can take the pressure off friends, relatives or carers who can’t visit regularly at the moment.

“Some of them have dementia and people worry that it’s the end – but they have a really nice life and are happy to be in their own homes. It’s important to have that connection with them, especially now.

“Some of our older people have six-month-old grandchildren they have never met because of the pandemic, so we are all glad the vaccine has started.”

Daniela is missing her own mum, who lives in Portugal, as coronavirus has kept them apart for many months – although a parcel of home-made marmalade was a welcome reminder of home when it arrived.