Sausage Dog spreads smiles to home care clients across Blackpool

The Blackpool office of Alcedo Care Group has a new four-legged recruit, and he’s bringing smiles to the company’s home care clients across the area.

Six-month-old brown dachshund puppy Albert belongs to Alcedo’s field care supervisor Paul Wilson and his partner, who live in Poulton-le-Fylde, and is fast becoming a popular member of the top-rated home care company’s visiting team.

Paul explains: “We’d not had Albert very long and I had been proudly showing photos of him to my lovely home care clients.  Not many people can resist a cute puppy, so when one of them asked if he could come with me on my next visit I didn’t hesitate to take him with me and we’ve not looked back since.”

The therapeutic benefits of dogs in a healthcare environment are well documented with evidence proving that positive interactions with man’s best friend reduce stress, feelings of pain and isolation and increase quality of life, creating memorable moments to treasure for all involved.

This is certainly the case in Blackpool where Albert has been a huge hit with Alcedo’s home care clients.

“Everyone has just fallen in love with him,” continues Paul, “They are in awe of him when they initially see him as he is still very small and cute and can’t wait for a cuddle which has become his favourite activity when we are out spot checking.  Many of our clients have had pets in the past and, for whatever reason, it’s not possible to have them now, so watching their joy with little Albert is beyond heart-warming for us as carers.”

With a few weeks of visiting already under his belt, Albert is settling well into the Alcedo Care Blackpool family, loving his new job and the attention he receives – not to mention all of the tasty treats that he has been getting!

Furthermore, Alcedo has received so much great feedback from families following Albert’s visits that it has started to recruit more four-legged friends for a newly-formed Alcedo Care Paw Patrol team – with Albert firmly in charge of the new recruits to ensure they continue to provide top quality care to all home care clients.

Care manager for Alcedo in Blackpool, Steve Sinnott, added: “Paul taking Albert out to visit his clients is a brilliant example of how our team use its professional knowledge and initiative to continually find innovative ways to delight our home care clients and improve their wellbeing.  I’m so proud of Paul for coming up with this idea.”

Rated one of the Top 20 home care groups by homecare.co.uk for the third year running, Alcedo Care offers Domiciliary Care Services, Live-in Care, Nurse-Led Complex Care Services, Supported Living and Children’s Services and has fast gained an enviable reputation as the home care provider of choice in the North West thanks to its superb 1,000-strong team of highly skilled and compassionate carers who make a tangible difference to the quality of life of the company’s home care clients.

Run by passionate husband and wife team, Andy and Jo Boardman, and with the support of their fantastic management team, the company is expanding at pace and aims to double in size over the next 12 months with the recruitment of more than 1,000 new carers.  For more information on the home care services provided by Alcedo Care, or to enquire about a fulfilling and rewarding new career in care, please visit www.alcedocare.co.uk