Gaylene Anderson, our next frontline warrior, has been part of the Compass Group family for over 15 years. Managing one of our senior living sites in the South Island, Gaye has been exceptional throughout the pandemic and lockdown period. She has had to deal with staffing challenges and personal ones but has worked tirelessly all the way through. Gaye makes her residents birthdays special by baking them birthday cakes so they could celebrate with their rest home family and has started up a cake decorating workshop to give residents something to engage in.

Gaye has a heart of gold who is a talented Chef and our client absolutely adores her work. Gaye takes care of everyone else before herself, she is selfless and kind, without being told to be.

Gaye says, “Wow I could write so much about working through Covid-19. What a ride it has been especially working in the rest home environment over lockdown. Right from the start committing ourselves to doing as much as possible to keep our “lovelies” safe. I genuinely believe we set our minds and bodies into survival mode, to commit everything we have to keeping the virus out of our “home” and we did, especially following all the important protocols that were in place from a health & safety perspective.  During this period, we’ve seen the residents struggle as they did not have contact with heir loved ones or being able to bind together as a family helping each other through. This job isn’t just about cooking their meals, its stopping (usually minutes before service) to make a cuppa for a resident or showing somebody back to their room. Its learning their likes and dislikes as we are like family. Although I’m down in Blenheim, I had great support from my Operations and General Managers who were just a phone call or e-mail away. We continue to commit ourselves to keeping our residents safe during these challenging times. ”