May 2019
Head of Dementia Care at Edwardstow Court
Cheryl Freeman is the Head of Dementia Care at Edwardstow Court in Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheryl has been with the trust for over 4 years and at Edwardstow since it’s opening in 2018.
Cheryl has worked in the care industry for over 20 years and started with OSJCT 4 ½ years ago, Cheryl initially started as a care leader in the dementia household at Jubilee Lodge. Cheryl then got promoted to a unit leader, before progressing to Head of Dementia Care at Edwardstow Court and supported with the setup 3 months prior to the opening of the home.
A ‘typical’ day for Cheryl is a day that you can never predict! Cheryl works alongside the team where she supports and empowers them to look after their residents living with dementia. Cheryl meets regularly with our resident’s family members where she listens to them and supports them when they are struggling with the transition or when there may be a change in the health.
Cheryl has the privilege of going out and meeting our new residents in their home before they move into Edwardstow, Cheryl will assess their needs and explain the process of moving in, in addition letting them know of all the exciting activities and events they will now be part of in their new home.
Cheryl says “In the 20 years I’ve worked in care, I’ve always worked with people living with dementia. I used to be scared of dementia but as I learned more and opened those gates it intrigued me to learn more, I then knew I always wanted to work with residents living with dementia”.
Most of all Cheryl spends as much time as she can with our residents, supporting their needs and joining in with their activities. Cheryl enjoys welcoming people to the home and she gets great satisfaction from people learning more about it, this has pushed Cheryl to host events for the community where they can learn more about dementia and the support available to them.
Cheryl’s favourite phrase is – ‘when you’ve met one person with dementia, you’ve only met one person with dementia’.
The next dementia event at Edwardstow is on Thursday 12th September 2-5pm, there will be talks around the benefits of animal therapy.