Dionne Heard and Dionne’s team
Nominated by: Nicola Smart
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for nomination:
I’m nominating Dionne Heard and Dionne’s team. These guys and girls are so genuine, kind and considerate. They really do go the extra mile by giving outstanding care. They are patient, punctual, respectful and we consider them part of the family. They have helped us out so much throughout the years.
James Pedley
Nominated by: Joseff Layton
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for nomination:
James Pedley is an inspiration to many of the community in Ripley and throughout Derbyshire. He gives up his free time after working with young people as a team manger at children services in and around Derbyshire to then further help motivate, engage and guide young people of the community to develop and grow.
His persona is quite opposite of what you see on the outside, with a non-judgmental attitude allowing the young people to talk and open up about their lives. James just seems to understand and connect with the young people of today and this is highlighted when he is volunteering at the Old Farm Bus (Marehay, Derbyshire). James has also been a key figure to some if not most of the attendees, even the sheep on the farm are in joy when they see big Jay. Not only do the attendees at the old farm bus aspire and look up to James like a farther figure, the volunteers also bounce off of his bubbly and charismatic nature.
He started his journey volunteering almost from the very beginning of the old farm bus and I do believe he is one of the reasons why the young people are becoming their best version they can be through James’ guidance and caring nature.
Joanne Brooks
Nominated by: Ellie Brooks
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for nomination:
I’d like to nominate my lovely mum, Joanne Louise Brooks, who has been a carer with the council for 38 years. She started when she was 18 years old on the 8th of January 1985 at the Glebe Residential Care Home in Alfreton. Mum loved working here taking residents on holidays and days out, as well as garden parties to raise money. She stayed at this care home until it sadly closed on the 8th of August 2016, she was heart broken as she saw both residents and staff as family.
Following the closure of The Glebe, in my mums own time she would still visit the residents at their new care homes. When my mum worked at the Glebe I would often visit from being young to join in with parties and social evenings, one visit stuck with me the most when a resident stopped me in the hall to tell me how lovely my mum was and said:
“If you grow up to be half as good as your mum, you’ll be better than most”
Luckily after the closure of The Glebe she applied for a job at Maple Mews Independent Living Apartments, also in Alfreton, where she still works to this day, loving her job.
Lea Green Learning and Development Centre
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for nomination:
I am nominating Lea Green Learning and Development Centre for Serving our Communities Award. I believe the centre should receive this award as they have given thousands of young people unique experiences and progress as an individual or team. The centre has also this year worked even more with children from deprived areas during the school holidays, using funding from the council for HAF days, meaning many young children have been able to have an exciting and unique experience whilst out of school, in addition to having a hearty hot meal at lunch. The centre has used this funding to the best of their ability and given many children an experience they elsewise wouldn't have received.
During lockdown the centre also worked with many vulnerable children in care who still had needs to be met. By coming to Lea Green the children and families / foster carers were able to have the much needed break that was required to stop any home life breakdowns. It was so important for these young individuals to be able to socialise and participate in these experiences to keep their family life together and keep them out of potential trouble.
Looking towards our future we as a centre are looking to expand our qualifications so we are able to also expand our work in the outdoors to carry on offering these experiences.
Tracey Fidler
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for nomination:
Tracey Fidler has managed the Out of Hours (OOHs) service for 10 years. In that time, it has developed from a small team of 3, to a multi-functional delivered service with strong interrelationships with all stakeholders, that aims to make difficult situations safe for the people of Derbyshire. Her dedication and investment to ensuring a thriving community, shines through in her actions, furthermore her commitment and professionalism to inspire employees is significant. Both continue to evolve year on year, as does her countywide excellent reputation. For this the team wishes to nominate her for the ‘Serving Communities Award’.
Tracey’s role involves co-lead service delivery with all emergency services, partner agencies and stakeholders, ensuring fundamental public service reforms and sustainability but more importantly securing public confidence and trust. Her trustworthy leadership of nearly 100 professional staff, instils confidence and competence in their work, hence her retention of staff is exceptional. The majority having worked OOH’s alongside their day jobs, for many years.
Countywide and National critical incidents, demands a strong resilient approach from all those involved and for this she has led without waiver. She is respectful of all views and opinions; however, she is confident in expressing the obligations of the department, and that pooled expertise in an integrated manner improves the outcomes for our most vulnerable clients.
Tracey expects and ensures equity, transparency, and accountability always and leads by example. She ensures the Derbyshire pound is invested and spent wisely, evidencing this in her innovative approach to events and situations, as OOHs have historically had little resources to hand, and for this, she has great respect and admiration for her ability to manage and be responsive in extremely difficult and complex situations.
Tracey demonstrates effectively how the vision for Derbyshire matters and that partnership working, in correlation with each other, is effective in crisis management. Furthermore, emphasising the importance that our clients demand a good experience from the OOHs service and encouraging everyone, especially her team, to be the best they can.
Sharon Barlow
Nominated by: James Lee Fletcher
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for nomination:
Sharon Barlow from Derbyshire Welfare Rights has helped me for the last 3 years get the disability benefits that the jobcentre and the DWP were refusing to accept I was eligible for. Sharon has gone beyond her expectations and has been there for me and others. She suffers with disabilities herself and works through her pain and suffers in silence to help others. She is very well educated and is exactly the person I needed with help in communicating. I can't express enough, my gratitude for her help and I know Sharon deserves recognition and appreciation for the service she provides to the whole county she serves.