Sonam Kumari Chaudhary – Senior Care Assistant

“I really enjoy the interpersonal relationships and the bonds I am able to build with our residents, not only as a carer but as a human being too.”

Hi, my name is Sonam and I have been a part of the Windsor Court team since November 2023. My role at Windsor Court is Senior Care Assistant, and my career has centred around caring for others for much of my life.

In my home country of Nepal, I had trained and qualified as a Nurse and had the chance to experience many different areas of the medical and care industries there. I started my nursing career in 2011 and worked as a Registered Nurse in several different hospitals in Nepal, including a teaching hospital. I had the chance to work in different departments in these hospitals, such as paediatrics and on maternity wards, so I had the chance to meet and take care of lots of people with different needs.

I spent nearly 7 years of my professional career working in nursing before I came to the UK. It is a new environment for me and I am enjoying the journey of building a life here. Initially I worked for another home in the midlands before relocating to Bournemouth and joining the Windsor Court team. I have been gaining more experience and getting more exposure to how things work within the home, as well as getting used to the variety of residents we have here. I am working on my communication, everyone has been so helpful as I improve my English skills.

In the few months since I came to Windsor Court I have already experienced and learned so much. The level of teamwork here is fantastic and all the staff are very cooperative. I feel very supported by the rest of the team and by the management, they are all very kindhearted.  I’ve worked in many different teams in both Nepal and the UK, I feel more comfortable here and as a part of this team than I have anywhere else I have worked. Here, I also have direct contact with the CEO of Beritaz Care and feel comfortable talking to him. He is very friendly, flexible in his approach and has a positive attitude, there are no words to describe him.

I have really enjoyed the experience of working at Windsor Court, there is a lot of companionship both within the staff team and with the residents. In my previous nursing career in Nepal, there were lots of patients on each hospital ward so very little time to care for them. I had to administer medication and then move on to the next patient without really have time to get to know them. At Windsor Court I am able to spend lots of time with the residents and have lots of interactions with them each day. They are able to talk to me about their needs and tell me about their lives, I get to know them a lot better this way. I really enjoy the interpersonal relationships and the bonds I am able to build with our residents, not only as a carer but as a human being too.

My role as Senior Care Assistant at Windsor Court is to provide care for our residents, administer medication and to help the residents with their personal care, the safeguarding of our residents is a main focus for my role. I also work with the residents to make sure they are taking care of themselves and establish if they need any additional support with things like fluid intake, personal hygiene or oral care. Because of this I find communication is important in my role and building good relationships with the residents is key.

I have also found the residents to be very understanding if I do struggle with communication while I am improving my English skills. They know that I am from a different country and English isn’t my first language. Even if they do not clearly understand what I am trying to say they understand my intention and we find other ways to communicate, it makes me happy when they understand me. I want to share information with them and they get that, they tell me that they understand and will give feedback to help me.

I can see the future career I am able to build at Windsor Court and within Beritaz Care. I see and hear from other staff that when a team member is doing well with their role and responsibilities there is room for progression. I am looking ahead towards my career here and see that there are options available to me long term based on my achievements. I am very happy to be a part of the Windsor Court team.