Avante Home Care Workers Awarded For Over 20 Years Service

Avante Care & Support believe in providing care and support services that put people first and recruit people to join the team, who are passionate about making a difference to the lives of those who use their services, contributing to their health, happiness and well-being.

Anne Philips and Anne Croucher (both pictured below) have been part of the home care team for over 20 years and were recently recognised and awarded for their 20 years of dedicated service to home care at Avante Care & Support.

Anne Philips aged 73, joined Avante Care & Support Home Care team back in November 1995 as a community care worker. Previously she was a receptionist for a company that engineered parts for British Aerospace and Formula One racing. Anne had known since a young girl that she wanted to be involved in care in some way and often dreamt of being a nurse as a child. It was when her father sadly died that she realised she wanted to pursue a career in caring and help others.

Anne shared “I have always loved being a home carer and have a lot of fond memories from my work, you need to have an open mind and at times expect the unexpected. Many years ago when I first started as a home carer one lady used to insist we sit out in her garden in all weathers, spotting various things ranging from people to birds and other wild life, the happiness it used to bring this lady meant that we did it every week!’’

During Anne’s career at Avante Care & Support she has mainly worked out in the community but also spent time working in the office and became a Team Leader. Anne now works as the main lead on the out of hour’s service, covering the phone and ensuring all out of hours home care calls are managed efficiently.

Anne Croucher has worked for Avante Care & Support for over 24 years and delivers home care on the Isle of Sheppey. Anne has been a carer for over 35 years in total as she previously worked as a volunteer providing care before joining the team at Avante Care & Support.

Anne said “I have never looked at caring as a job I enjoy giving other people a better quality of life and making them feel special.

Times have certainly changed since I first started caring and there is no way we would be able to do what we did back then, but we just seemed to get on with it as we didn’t know any different. The days before dinners were delivered into people’s home I was asked if during my calls to care for my clients, if I could deliver a Christmas dinner to each of them. This would have been fine but I was riding a push bike at the time! Looking back I’m not sure how I did it but I did, I can remember having hot Christmas dinners plated up in bags balancing off of my handle bars! May I say that every meal was delivered, hot and with not a drop of gravy spilt!”.