For some, working in care is a calling – and three long-serving Everday Heroes are a perfect example.
Nurse trio, Home Manager Agnes Oliphant, daughter Robyn, who is the home’s Clinical Lead, and Staff Nurse Steff Cox, all started out as carers before completing nursing degrees, then returned to the Kirriemuir home. What’s more, they all undertook their degrees around the same time before returning to Balhousie Lisden.
Robyn, who initially only arrived at Lisden because she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after completing her English degree, was first to begin her course and supported Agnes and Steff through their own qualifications.
“We were all still working here on top of uni,” she says. “I was passing on things I was learning and I encouraged both of them to go and do it.
“I never thought about being a nurse initially – I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I came here as a carer for nine months and I really enjoyed it. There were good nurses here, and they really encouraged me to go and do my degree.”
For Agnes, returning to study as a mature student was daunting – but having her daughter Robyn there was the motivation she needed.
“It was hard,” she says. “It was a big thing for me to go back and do the training. I had a full-time job and a mortgage, so there were lots of things to consider. But I thought, ‘if I don’t grab the moment, I never will’. Robyn had started uni the year before, and worked hard to convince me that I really had to do it, because there were people much older than me. I’d always said I’d look into it, and I came home one weekend and she had filled out the UCAS application for me! That was the final nudge I needed.
“It was tough because as well as doing the placements, I had to work alongside and I was doing full-time hours. It was well worth the hard work though, and I would say that to anyone. You’re never too old and it’s never too late.
“I didn’t think I was going to be up to it. That’s the thing I surprised myself with. My grades were a lot better than I was expecting, and then I qualified with a distinction. I think I had something to prove to myself – when you’re older, you do.”
Steff, meanwhile, had always harboured dreams of becoming a nurse – and once she had worked as a carer at Lisden, passing Higher Maths at the same time, there was only one place she wanted to work.
“I love the fact it’s so family-orientated,” she adds. “My daughter comes in and has a chat with all the residents. I love working with older people. That’s what I’ve done all the way through, and I’m also mental-health trained, and that’s my forte. I just love this home. We create so many great memories – mostly from all the activities we have going on. We’ve had bikers and ponies in, and all the staff have such a good team relationship.
“We all kept in contact while we were doing our training, and it’s a fantastic achievement for us all to be back here. I was a carer here for a long time and I always said, ‘I’ll come back here and I’ll be the nurse’. To have actually done it feels amazing. It’s my dream job.
“Because we’re so close, we all think very alike, which then shows throughout the home in the quality of care and consistency of work that gets done. That’s massive, because if you’re not singing off the same hymn sheet it doesn’t work.”
Not only are they singing from the same hymn sheet, Agnes, Robyn and Steff know the words by heart, ensuring Lisden continues to run like a dream long into the future.
