Angela’s Journey: From retail to 'Giving Back' in dementia care 

Ruth was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s on 3rd September 2018, just after the family had celebrated her 70th birthday with a trip to Scotland so Ruth could visit her cousins. Angela, her two brothers, sister, and father had all suspected Ruth had memory problems, yet receiving the diagnosis still came as a shock. Ruth herself appeared to be in denial and would get angry and frustrated; something she had rarely been before. It was hard on Angela and the family as they had never seen their mum like that before.

Angela said:

“Mum was still in there, you’d catch glimpses of her, but that saying, that people with dementia die again and again is so true.”

Ruth passed away three days before Christmas 2021 whilst Angela was working at Dunelm. It was one of the worst experiences of Angela’s life, but it also triggered a desire to do something for other people living with or caring for people living with dementia and other degenerative mental health illnesses.

Angela said: 

“I knew I wanted to do something with dementia because my mum used to go to a day centre and I knew how much that helped her. She’d come back and she’d be a lot chattier than if she was just at home all week.”   

When in 2022 a friend of Angela’s told her about volunteering opportunities at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Angela to give back and explore what it might be like to work with people suffering from dementia. Volunteering gave Angela a chance to explore healthcare roles while gaining valuable experience and helped prepare her for NHS interviews for when positions became available. 

Working alongside NHS staff at Bowmere Hospital, Angela volunteered across three different wards, including an acute mental health women’s ward and a dementia ward. She shadowed healthcare professionals, supported Occupational Therapy Technical Instructors (OTTI) in engaging patients, and gradually built her confidence. It was the organising and delivering therapeutic activities that truly inspired Angela. The activities ranged from physical to cognitive and included designing quizzes to help with memory, board games to help with reasoning, and in one setting a floor projector that allows dementia patients to interact with puzzles. Despite initial doubts stemming from her mother's experience, volunteering proved Angela could not only cope but thrive in this environment.

After approximately nine months of volunteering once a week, Angela secured a paid position as an Activities Coordinator at a local care home in Chester, where she worked for approximately 18 months before moving to Wealstone Care Home in Upton, Chester.

Angela said: 

“Keeping people living with dementia engaged, can be hard, but it is so rewarding which is why I wanted to be an Activities Coordinator. I had a resident that normally wouldn’t come to any activities, but one week, she came to the session. Just the fact that she’d come to it made my day!” 

Volunteering at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust gave Angela increased confidence, practical skills and valuable experience. 

“I gained a lot of confidence. When the Occupational Therapists at the hospital supported me to lead a session for the first time, I wondered if I could do it. But she believed in me and I went for it. I gained such an insight into this type of role planning, delivery, safety and keeping people engaged. If I didn’t have that experience from volunteering, I don’t know if I would have had the confidence to try.” 

For NHS staff, Angela’s volunteering made a tangible difference. As one staff member told her: “It’s so nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off or just to help out in general.” 

While Angela is currently focused on her role, she remains open to future opportunities within the NHS, particularly in dementia care and recommends people don’t discount volunteering as a way of giving back to the community. 

Angela said:

“I think that the ‘Giving Back, Transforming Care’ campaign is crucial to getting more people to think about volunteering. Volunteers play such an important role in any workplace, but especially the NHS/care sector which desperately needs more staff. If I didn’t have the opportunity to volunteer I wouldn’t have come to the decision to change careers from retail to working in the care sector. It was a risk free way for me to try out the area I thought I’d enjoy and I’d highly recommend that people try it.”

Angela’s inspiring journey demonstrates how volunteers have a pivotal role to play in getting the NHS back on its feet.  

Inspired by tens and thousands of volunteers like Angela, who wish to volunteer for the NHS to give back, Helpforce has launched a three-year campaign 'Giving Back, Transforming Care' to inspire national conversations, foster deeper public engagement, and shift perceptions of healthcare volunteering from a 'nice to have' to a strategic imperative. Learn more about this ambitious campaign here.