Black Swan staff to feature in Poems in a Pandemic anthology

The winners and finalists for the Poems in a Pandemic competition have been announced – and we’re proud to say five of the chosen 100 poems belong to our staff members.  

Poems in a Pandemic is a wonderful campaign started during lockdown with the aim of bringing the opinions and experiences of care staff on the frontlines of Covid19 into the limelight. Social care has received a lot of attention in the media throughout 2020, and not all of it has been positive.  

The project is being run by CareTalk magazine, who describe the initiative as:

“Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic our social care staff have been incredibly brave and committed to their roles, the trauma they have witnessed could bring lasting psychological impact and it is important that support is provided. 

“A coalition of social care providers, invited the social care sector to express their feelings and share their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic through poetry. Poems in a Pandemic captured staff thoughts and emotions through a poetry competition”. 

The competition not only allows for staff to have their voices heard at a time when the social care sector was feeling somewhat underappreciated, but it also demonstrates the passion, dedication and commitment that goes with a career in the care industry. 

The project also highlighted the psychological impact working throughout the pandemic, and throughout lockdown has had on the care sector as a whole. Everyone from domestics, chefs, admin, senior staff and carers have been forced to take on new roles and work under pressure in an unprecedented situation, and with the anxiousness and worry which this situation has brought to us all. 

The finalists and winners have been whittled down to 100 from  over 300 submissions and will be memorialized forever in an online library to act as a data bank for the hard work the sector did throughout lockdown 2020.

As well as this, they are hoping to raise funds to create a printed collection available for people to buy – with all profits going towards mental health support for care workers.  If you would be interested in donating to get this book published and support care staff who have worked throughout the pandemic, please click here. 

We are so proud of all our staff who submitted artwork and poetry to this project, with staff from all different roles within our homes taking part. We wanted to share the five poems written by our staff which have been chosen as finalists to feature in the finished anthology.  

Our finalists!

Category: Bravery
Title: Through A Resident’s Eyes
Written by: Sara Pearce 
Job role: Registered Manager – Park House, Great Yarmouth – Black Swan Care Group 

Category: Hope 
Title: Margaret, Doris, Olive and June
Written by: Samantha Bailey 
Job role: Head of Marketing and Social Media – Black Swan Care Group 

Category: Isolation 
Title: Indoors We Need You To Hide
Written by: Samera Jones
Job role: Training coordinator and facilitator – Black Swan Care Group 

Category: Observation
Title: Thank You To The People
Written by: Samantha Bailey 
Job role: Head of Marketing and Social Media – Black Swan Care Group 

Category: Uplifting
Title: Pride
Written by: Tom Lyons
Job role: Managing Director – Black Swan Care Group