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Emily Moore meets the mother-and-daughter team behind a new care agency
WHILE many teenagers leave school with little idea of what they want to do next, Lynda McDonald had one very clear goal.
Unfortunately for her, though, the woman who was in a position to help her realise that ambition required some convincing.
‘From a very young age, I knew that I wanted to work in care,’ explained Scottish-born Lynda, whose first exposure to the career came when she was only five years old. ‘My mum died when I was five and, in her final days, she was cared for at home by the most amazing team of nurses who not only looked after her, but also provided a huge amount of support to my dad, my sister and me.
‘I think that insight into the profession sowed a seed and it wasn’t long after that that I said I wanted to work in care. I worked in care homes on work experience placements and when I left school at 16, I jumped on the bus, went to the nearest care home and asked the manager for a job.
‘She didn’t want to employ me because I was so young but, after I got on the bus and waited outside her office for three days in a row, she eventually gave in. I remember that on that third day, I’d been waiting outside for a while when one of the staff members shouted “give her a chance”.’
That was around 25 years ago and, since then, Lynda has worked in a range of care homes and community settings both in Scotland and Jersey, supporting countless clients and also, albeit unintentionally, influencing her daughter’s career path.
‘I grew up in and around care homes,’ smiled Lucy-Anne Febers, who has now joined her mother in launching the family-run business, Aurum Home Care. ‘When mum was at work, I would go to the care home where she was based after school so I was exposed to that environment quite early on. I studied health and social care at A-level at Beaulieu and then started doing some scanning work at the agency where mum was working, so I asked her whether she could help me to get a care-based job there instead.’
The help, however, wasn’t forthcoming in quite the way Lucy-Anne might have hoped.
‘Mum told me that if I wanted the job, I would have to apply formally and speak with the compliance manager, which I did,’ Lucy-Anne recalled. ‘The manager told me that I would need to pass my driving test first. I was so determined to get the job that I set out to pass the test first time, which I did – on the morning of Hurricane Alex.’
With her driving licence and a new job secured, Lucy-Anne quickly fell in love with care and ‘has never looked back’.
The women’s decision to launch their own business was largely inspired by Lynda’s father, who passed away just a few weeks ago.
‘While we have worked together for the same company for a while, it was only recently that we decided to set up in business together,’ said Lynda.
‘Just before my father passed away, we were sitting with him and he said: “You girls have always worked for someone else. Why don’t you set up together and do it for yourselves?”’
Thus inspired, the mother-and-daughter enterprise started to take shape, with the name Aurum representing the gold-standard care which the duo aims to deliver.
‘It is important to us that people living at home get the best care and that their choices and wishes are respected,’ said Lynda. ‘While we have to recognise and minimise any risks, we fully appreciate that a lot of people prefer to remain in their homes and maintain as much of their freedom and lifestyle as possible.
‘We never lose sight of how special it is to be invited into someone’s home and for that person to trust you enough to let you come through their door and assist them.’
While working predominantly with older members of the community, or those living with dementia, Lynda and Lucy-Anne’s focus is also strongly on the wellbeing of their team.
‘To ensure that our clients get the best service, it is important that our staff are well supported and looked after as well,’ said Lynda.
‘We both know how mentally draining the job can be, so it is important to us that we help our carers and enable them to look after their clients, while also being able to live a normal life outside work,’ added Lucy-Anne.
With a team of four confirmed for the agency’s first day of business, the mother and daughter are keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in a career in the sector.
‘If we see that someone is empathetic and has the right personality to be a carer, then we are very happy to provide the necessary training,’ said Lynda. ‘As well as being caring and patient, carers should be fun. Nobody wants to see a miserable person walking through their door. And you also need to be adaptable because clients’ moods and emotions change, so you have to respond accordingly.
‘It is a job which is different every day and it will challenge you and reward you. The important thing for me is that people enjoy coming to work, and that we match clients with carers to ensure that both parties are happy.’
To achieve this, Lynda and Lucy-Anne spend time getting to know each prospective client – with some people approaching Aurum directly and others being referred by a family member or social worker – to assess both their care needs and their personality.
‘Once we have done that, we can fit the carer to the client, something which is really important as clients also appreciate consistency in care,’ said Lucy-Anne. ‘Sometimes the carer is the only person the client sees in a day, so that relationship and understanding of their habits, even down to simple things such as how they like their tea, makes a big difference.’
