Employee Stories – Jade Frias

Linc Cymru is a Housing Association and Care provider, so as you can imagine, we are all about people and believe in creating the right environment for people to flourish. And the people that make that happen are our passionate and dedicated colleagues.

‘Employee Stories’ will highlight individuals and teams within Linc and shine a light on the incredible work they do within the organisation. This ‘Employee Stories’ will focus on Jade Frias, the deputy manager at our Ty Coch Nursing Home.

Jade has been working with us since 2015 when she joined as a senior carer in our Penylan House Nursing Home. From there we supported Jade in passing her first nursing exam and in 2018 she proudly became a qualified nurse here in the UK. Jade then worked as a nurse in our Capel Grange Nursing Home before she was promoted to lead nurse, and her most recent role with us here at Linc Cymru is her role as deputy manager at Ty Coch Nursing Home.

As you can see, Jade has truly flourished during her time with us and she is a testament to the types of people we love to work with us; people who are dedicated, driven, and passionate about helping others.

Jade has carried out many roles at Linc, but we asked her what her typical day currently looks like as the deputy manager. She explained, “My role involves overseeing the clinical practices in the home, ensuring regulatory compliance, supporting colleagues, and directing the team to deliver quality standards of care to our residents.”

She continued, “No two days are the same, but my day will almost always start with the manager’s rounds of the building to identify any issues and update my colleagues on the latest information. From there I will fulfil my duties which include clinical governance auditing, deploying colleagues, fulfilling our reporting responsibilities, and resolving ad-hoc issues.”

Although Jade is now in a managerial position, she is still heavily involved with people in her day-to-day responsibilities, which is something our employees appreciate as working with vulnerable people and those that need our help is very rewarding.

But Jade still has other responsibilities, such as making important decisions on how she can effectively deploy her teams, deciding when they will undertake certain clinical interventions, and making snap judgement calls. Being able to be sympathetic and assertive are essential characteristics in a role like Jade’s, and she has certainly proven over the years working with us that she has these qualities, and this is reflected in her team too.

Jade told us that she really enjoys her role and responsibilities as deputy manager, but she said her favourite parts of the role are “empowering my colleagues to deliver person-centred care and clinical excellence, being a support system in their development, and seeing how our dedicated team have a positive impact on our residents.”

At Linc, we are all about people, so it is fantastic to work with individuals and teams that support one another and help each other to reach their potential. We find that as a housing association and care provider that our teams need to be drawn to helping others, whether that is their teammates, customers, or residents. So, we asked Jade what drew her to this particular field and why she was interested in pursuing a career in nursing. She responded, “I have two members of my family who are nurses and inspired me to join the profession. I graduated as a nurse in the Philippines and later on worked as an emergency room (A&E) nurse for three years prior to coming here in the UK.”

It is always lovely to hear the stories of those being inspired to join a profession, family is very important to us here at Linc, so we loved hearing how Jade began her career journey in the Philippines with her family. Jade continued, “Nursing always felt like an innate calling to me so I joined the Social Care sector after arriving here in the UK and have continued to work in this field.” Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right “fit” for yourself career-wise, and the roles and industries you try might not feel right. Jade found her calling in social care and we are happy that she could grow and progress through her career journey with us.

Since Jade has been able to quickly progress during her time with us, we asked her what was next on her career journey, she responded, “I am still settling into my Deputy Manager role with the great support around me. Then my ambition in the future is to be a Registered Home Manager in Linc.”

But how did Jade start to work with us at Linc? Jade explained, “I applied for my first job in Linc as I heard they had a very good reputation in the sector as both an employer and a provider of care.”

“Linc is a great organisation to work for as they have supportive no blame culture. People are given opportunities to grow and develop themselves. Linc has always been supportive of people’s development.” People have always at the heart of everything we do, so being available to support our teams and residents is something we always try toprioritise. Jade continued, “Linc helped me grow by providing myself and colleagues additional training, mentoring sessions, and involving us in projects and tasks to enhance our knowledge and skills.” We were able to support Jade through her nursing qualification and this has enabled her to progress through Linc into a role she enjoys and thrives, and she has made a great difference in the various nursing homes she has worked in no matter her role; these are the markings of the type of people we love to work with at Linc.

Jade believed this is what set us apart from other nursing homes, stating, “I believe what separates Linc Cymru Nursing Homes apart from other providers is their values and the entire ethos of the company. Linc operates with a values leadership approach and is committed to developing the next leaders internally.”

Jade mentioned that her family ties to nursing are what sparked her drive to work with others in the social care sector but of course anyone who has the drive to help people could join this sector. So, we asked Jade for some advice for those looking to go into a similar role, she advised, “I would highly recommend others to apply for this role. It can be very challenging, but at the same time it truly is rewarding to feel that you have made a difference to the residents and colleagues.”

Jade continued, “My advice for others looking to move into a similar role or follow a similar career path is to put yourself forward for things and try to test yourself. There will be setbacks, but if you put in the time and effort to develop new skills then there will be opportunities for you.”

To see our recent job vacancies and join the Linc Cymru team, visit our website or contact us for more information.