Carer brings hairdressing skills to St Anne’s care home

A carer at St Anne’s care home has ensured there are no bad hair days for residents, utilising her previous experience in hairdressing, to ensure they continue to look and feel good throughout the pandemic.

Sue Coxon, a care assistant at St Anne’s care home on Plougastel Drive in Saltash, Cornwall was previously a professional hairdresser and changed to a career in care over sixteen years ago. 

As many services throughout England closed, Sue saw an opportunity to use her skills to help residents at St Anne’s and quickly had a list of residents who were eager to have their tresses attended to. Sue says:

It was just something I decided to do. It felt very natural for me to offer this to our residents. They love getting their hair done and appreciate it so much. The hairdressing sessions have been great for residents’ wellbeing and give me quite of bit of pleasure as well.

Sue, who became a carer because she wanted a change and desired a more meaningful profession, sees hairdressing as a natural extension of her role and is thrilled to be able to use her background to improve the lives of residents. She says: 

Hairdressing and caring can be quite alike in how your interpersonal skills are used. My career in care has been very rewarding and being able to share my hairdressing abilities with residents has made it even more so.

Resident, Bridget Bickford, aged 88 who has been enjoying the hairdressing sessions said: 

Sue’s hairdressing has been fantastic, and we also have carers here who do our nails. Even though salons are closed we get to be pampered at St Anne’s. I can’t thank the team enough!

Neil McCalley, Home Manager of St Anne’s, encourages job seekers to consider a career in care because of the ability to use their previous experience in a gratifying way as Sue has. He said: 

The residents really look forward to Sue coming to do their hair and it is wonderful to see Sue use the skills she acquired during her previous career in a way that really benefits them. One of the great things about working in a care home is that there are many ways to use your background and expertise.

For more information about St Anne’s please call: 0800 085 4290.