A Day In The Life Of...
A Retirement Assistant - Gillian

I work in one of our Sheltered Housing Sites in Glasgow. My role involves maintaining the health safety of the building by carrying out daily inspections, weekly fire tests, reporting repairs or maintenance issues. The other part of my role is to support, interact and engage with the tenants, I do this by carrying out daily phone calls, general support and visits to their property or making referrals on their behalf to the energy advisor, handy person service or Money advisor to name a few.
There are many activities that go on throughout the year within the complex from lunch clubs, coffee mornings, arts and crafts, relaxation, and mindfulness sessions which I help facilitate. Unfortunately, due to Covid19 these activities have been put on hold. Instead, I have helped to ensure the Tenants still felt engaged and less isolated by carrying out daily wellbeing calls, delivering lunches to their door, food parcels, activity packs and personal care items. The use of electronic tablets was offered to the Tenants to help enable them to connect with other Tenants or family members through a video call.
I have worked for WSHA/Willowacre for just over 2 years, and I love my role; every day is a new day and I enjoy the interaction with the Tenants and their families. I feel a very privileged person working with the tenants and cannot thank them enough for letting me be part of their lives.