A Day in the Life # 16 – Norman’s Story
Welcome to the 16th of our ‘Day in the Life’ Series of Blogs, written to provide an open and honest account of the care industry. The 16th interview provides both a fascinating picture of, but also a welcome to, Alexandra Care Home’s new Registered Manager, Norman.
Interviewing Norman was a joy. The first thing one notices within five minutes of sitting down with him, is that Norman exudes a naturally calm warmth. He has the rare ability to immediately put one at ease with his openness and friendly demeanor. There are no pretensions. No superficiality. As we used to say in marketing – ‘WYSIWYG’ – What you see is what you get!
The only issue I had was the hour we had put aside flew by and I still had more questions to ask, so we had to reconvene the interview for me to ask Norman everything I wanted to. And that’s the other thing about Norman – his life story is fascinating, so trying to condense many pages of notes into a bit sized interview is challenging. I hope you enjoy reading about Norman as much as I enjoyed interviewing him.
Norman’s incredible career in health-related industries began nearly 34 years ago – in the acute care sector, on air ambulances – rescuing and flying critically ill patients from African states to hospitals all around the world. The stories Norman has about this part of his career are enough to write a book but, in summary, just imagine rescuing stricken tourists from incidents such as snake bites, crocodile attacks, white water rafting accidents, falling off waterfalls, the bends from deep sea diving off Pretoria, and … well, you get the picture!
After such incidents, the rescued tourists or African citizens would then be flown to hospitals either in their home nations, or to countries with the medical technology to treat the traumas. If the issues were comprehensively covered by medical insurance, no expense would be spared in the rescues.
(It makes you think about getting adequate insurance cover when you travel, doesn’t it?)
Another interesting fact about tourist rescues was the number of whom were on vacation at the ‘end of life’ to fulfil bucket lists but then found themselves deteriorating while on holiday. It was common for Norman to have to get tourists back home to treat pre-existing conditions that had worsened during their trips. Some medical companies would use a specialist Lear Jet with an intensive care unit on board to facilitate patients making the journeys.
The life of a flying paramedic in Africa is evidently a varied and exciting one, but to qualify for such a position, Norman had to undergo intensive training across a rafter of paramedic and aviation medicine courses in his home country of Zimbabwe and then South Africa. The training and experience held Norman in good stead to attain a position in London, where he undertook further training with the Essex Ambulance Service in Chelmsford. Soon after Norman was running the Neurological team at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.
Norman enjoyed a fast-paced six years in neurology before moving to anaesthetics, as part of a critical care team. This specialist area of medical care incorporates keeping patients pain free and alive pre, during and post operations. The recovery period from serious trauma is critical and it was Norman’s job to both keep patients in induced comas alive and then help them emerge (wake up) safely from operations. His job took him to many ITUs around the UK, such as Liverpool, Oxford and Birmingham.
Around 2012, however, Norman decided to try something different. Norman says, ‘As the phrase “intensive care” suggests, the work is intensive. Every day I had to think on my feet and make life or death decisions. Eventually I needed a break from that sort of pressure, so after a period of retraining, I worked for the Department of Work and Pensions. My role there was to provide physical and mental assessments to determine if people were fit for work. The job increased my skill set to include the mental side of illness – being able to understand people and assess how genuine their claims of mental illness were. That could be difficult, and listening to people’s personal issues all day and every day was sometimes a challenge.’
After two and a half draining years Norman realised he was too invested in people and was beginning to take the hurt on board – so needed to change jobs! Having learned a lot about mental health and social deprivation in the role, Norman says he still finds those skills useful today. ‘Understanding and empathy are key components of what I do now,’ he says.
Norman moved onto Agency work in a Stoke Hospital and was given the position of managing the discharge for the geriatric ward – which is where Norman developed an interest in elderly care. He then moved into the elderly social care team in the NHS. Norman says, ‘I never imagined I’d end up in the sector because, when I was younger, it was all about the adrenaline rush. But very quickly I developed a passion for working with the elderly.’
The care of the elderly is a sector Norman feels has been overlooked. Rather than work in a discharge unit, Norman decided to move into social care where he could forge longer and more meaningful relationships with residents. Norman likes what he calls the ‘continuity’ of social care and the face residents become ‘more like family’.
Other benefits of moving out of actual hospitals where relationships are transitory is that Norman enjoys forging relationships with friends and family and working with external multi-disciplinary agencies to help put together complex and appropriate care packages.
Following time at a rival care home, Norman joined the Bayswood Care Group as Registered Manager of the Alexandra Care Home with Nursing on 1st November 2023. Norman says, ‘My biggest role at the Alexandra is to improve and maintain very high standards of care. I am relishing the opportunity!’
‘Why The Alexandra?’ I ask Norman.
Norman replies, ‘The Alexandra is one of the biggest and most beautiful nursing homes in the northwest. I don’t see why biggest can’t also be best – that’s my goal!’
Norman has had an incredible and varied career to date and we are glad to have the flying paramedic turned social care guru on board for the next, exciting phase of the Alexandra’s journey.
Interview by Kelly Farrington