Longfield carer has been a rock for 12 years

Last month, however, she was recognised on a bigger platform after receiving a national award for her ‘going the extra mile’ attitude.

It’s the first time the prestigious caring award has ever come to Northern Ireland.

Care assistant Imelda, who’s worked at the Eglinton home for the past nine years, was nominated by her work colleague Sean Ferguson for the Recognition of Care and Kindness award (ROCK).

Awarded by Four Seasons Healthcare, the in-house prize is for staff who regularly go above and beyond for their residents.

Sean said he had written the letter of nomination for his friend and colleague and was surprised when care home manager Louise McCloskey told him the nomination had beat competition throughout the UK.

“When Imelda goes into each resident, she instantly makes them feel at ease,” says Sean. “She’s so meticulous about her work and she leaves no stone unturned.

“If a resident has a problem even if it happens within the last few minutes of her shift, Imelda will make sure she gets it sorted out for them. That’s why I think the award is so well deserved.”

Imelda was more modest about her achievement. Her first reaction was total shock.

“I was dumbfounded, I could have killed Sean!,” she laughs. “When things calmed down a bit I was delighted. I love my work,” she adds.

“The residents are great to work with and the staff are all great too. There is a serious side to our work but we all get on really well so that makes things a lot easier.”

Dungiven woman Imelda says the residents at Longfield were delighted for her.

“I’ve just had everyone coming up and congratulating me, it’s been really lovely,” she says.

Care Home manager Louise McCloskey says she’s thrilled that Imelda has been recognised and believes the award is a boost for all the staff at Longfield Care Home.

“It’s fantastic,” she says. “We have nine staff who’ve given long service here, they’ve all been here around ten years so we have a brilliant team and a real family atmosphere.

“A lot of those staff go that extra mile for the residents and it is very tiring and demanding work.

“We have a brain injury unit here for young people and many of them are in a vegetative state. They require total nursing care and that’s very intensive but hugely rewarding work.

“We’ve had a case where one of our young people had been signed off as someone who would never communicate but one of our staff members still talked him.

“We put a big emphasis on always keeping up that communication and always talking to our residents. Then one day that young person spoke back

to the care assistant and told her he supported Man United,

“This was totally down to the good practice of our staff and we’re really proud of that and that’s something which goes on everyday,” she says.