Caring Through Covid Awards (Healthwatch Wakefield) - Unsung Hero (WINNER) - Flexicare At Home

Recipient: Flexicare At Home

Date: Thursday 23 Sep 2021

The Unsung Hero Award celebrated the person who delivers outstanding care, without asking for
recognition or expecting credit, yet who deserves it for the difference they make. Yongmin Lee is such a person.

Yongmin is employed as a Home Carer, providing specialised practical care and emotional support. It was
evident upon his appointment that Yongmin's abundant personal qualities would be ideally suited in
assisting one of our more complex care packages.
The challenges associated with this client are many and can be extremely wearisome on those ensuring the
delivery of a truly personalised service.
Prior to requiring care as a result of injury, the client had enjoyed a very high profile successful working life
in which his extravert nature and high intellect had been fully utilised. With the client’s social interactions
curtailed as a result of the pandemic lockdown restrictions, and the client’s partner’s elevated anxieties,
the home environment became a highly pressurised one with innovative and ‘outside of the box’ thinking
required to not only keep the client safe but to also engage him in meaningful activities within the confines
of his own home environment.
In the enforced absence of other agencies and contractors, Yongmin took on the role of gardener /
handyman entertaining the client in his garden who watched on and gave instruction as Yongmin mowed
the lawn, trimmed bushes and weeded flower beds.
He carried out basic DIY, building garden benches and other structures, introduced activities such as jigsaws
and modelling and did the shopping in his own time to avoid any additional COVID stress being felt by the
client’s partner. Actions typical of Yongmin whose unassuming calm yet confident façade endears him to
everybody he meets, and a favourite carer across all his clients. Willing to lend a helping hand, including
helping other care providers in an emergency, Yongmin can be tasked with any call safe in the knowledge
that it will be completed to his exacting standards. Since the onset of the pandemic Yongmin has worked
tirelessly with little holiday requested, volunteered to cover for others, and despite often working in a
highly pressured environment, never complains.
Once these awards were made known, many carers, clients and the office felt compelled to nominate
Yongmin. Yongmin sets a very high bar for those of us who do what we do, always with a real empathy and
a true compassion for others. He is a model employee whose hard work and tenacity perpetually fosters a
spirit of teamwork, innovation and a sense of collaboration in everything he does.