My journey so far

Hello, my name is Dimitar and I am a care assistant. I currently work at a care home in Norwich. This is a blog about my journey so far.

I am from Sofia in Bulgaria, and moved to the UK two months ago. Avanta Care arranged my travel and accommodation, and I arrived in July 2014.

Leaving home

On the morning I left Bulgaria, I was a little nervous, as to be expected. I was moving to a new country and leaving my friends and family behind. Nervous, but also excited to be starting this adventure.

I arrived in Leeds with 7 other people, and was greeted by a warm, smiling face. It was Diana, one of Avanta Care's consultants. She was very friendly and helpful, and put my mind at ease.

We travelled to the hotel in Leeds, which was to be our home for the next week. We had the weekend to explore Leeds and take in some of the sites.

Training

Training began on Monday morning. We were studying towards an NCFE Level 1 Award in Preparing to work in Adult Social Care.
It is a week-long intensive training programme.

Training was good - very detailed, but done in a relaxed environment. We covered all aspects of care, including moving people (See picture).

We all passed the training course, and were now qualified care assistants ready to work.

My work placement

I was called on Saturday by a member of the Avanta team to say I had a work placement ready for Monday. I was amazed at how quickly they had found me a position.

The placement was at a care home in Norwich. Avanta prepared me a travel plan and some accommodation, and I travelled down by train on Sunday afternoon.

I arrived in Norwich and was greeted by Anne, the care home manager. She was lovely, very helpful and showed me around. I met some of my colleagues, who were all very friendly. I knew I was going to enjoy my team here.

My accommodation was a 10 minute walk away, so I left the care home and went to see my new home. It was nice and my 2 housemates made me feel welcome.

I began work the following morning, and have been there for two months now. I work on a shift pattern, with some night shifts and I love it. The staff and residents are so friendly, and Norwich is a beautiful city.

My day to day duties vary from helping the residents with washing and getting dressed on a morning, to helping with housekeeping, preparing meals, and assisting them in to bed on an evening.

I am so grateful to Avanta Care for helping me on my new journey. They have made everything flow smoothly, and made this an easy transition for me.