Care home laundry manager learns Filipino so she can talk to resident

Being a laundry manager of a care home is not just about washing clothes and bedding, reveals Joyce Jolley, laundry manager at Charlotte House care home. She is also a confidante to many residents saying: “I have a little chat with all the residents and they tell me lots of little secrets and stories, in confidence of course. It makes my day to know that they trust me enough to share their lives with me!”

Ms Jolley has worked at the care home for nearly 15 years and her commitment to the residents is evident from the way she talks about them, saying “The residents have taught me that they all have a story to tell if you just take the time to ask”.

“I’m very much a people’s person so working in a care home gives me the perfect opportunity to meet new and interesting people all the time. I get to meet the residents, their friends and their family and everyone is grateful to me for the job I do. It’s not a glamorous job but it is rewarding and I really do enjoy it.”

It is important for her that the residents feel at home to the extent that she learnt Filipino so she could communicate with one of the residents.

“There was a Filipino lady that resided in the home a while back. I learnt some words of her language so I could greet her in her language every day. It was a small thing and just a few words, it made a huge difference to that lady’s day to just hear someone speak her native language,” she said.

Ms Jolley started off working at the care home as a cleaner and did that role as well as laundry assistant for a few years. “As the number of residents grew in the home it was becoming a bit too much to do both roles so I decided to concentrate on the laundry side as that’s the part I enjoyed most.

She describes it as “a busy job” and says: “You have to be very organised. I get into work for 8am and finish at 4pm. The first thing I do is open the laundry and put the machines on with the washing from the previous day. There are 74 rooms at Charlotte House so that means lots of washing that needs doing, from residents clothes, bedding, towels and table linen. On an average day there’s 18 large bags of washing, not including the washing from the sluice room.

“I know that laundry isn’t everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but although it may sound strange, I actually love it! The best part of my job is delivering the fresh laundry to the residents, they are always very thankful which is nice.”

The hardest part of her job is “all the running around I do”.

“As it’s such a large home there are nine flights of stairs to go up and down many times throughout the day. There is of course a lift, but it keeps me fit so I see it as a work-out really!

“I look forward to chatting with the residents and the other team members. Charlotte House is like someone’s home and it feels like a home from home to me and we are all like one big family.

“At the end of the day when everything is done, dusted and in order, I feel proud that I have been able to make a difference.”

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