Building the bond at BAH

Hi all - only me!

Those four little words are having a big effect on some of Brightwater at Home’s staff.

They’re the opening lines of a weekly email that BAH Registered Nurse Melanie Jordan has been sending to her fellow team members for the past few months.

Unlike most emails that land in our inboxes on a Friday afternoon, this one gets opened.

Happy weekend to the Dream Team

Well, Friday has rolled around again. God knows how? Where does all the time go? Definitely not on my housework or the washing! Hahaha. That’s all still waiting for me to get to tomorrow.

Melanie – or Mel as she prefers –joined BAH in August 2022. She had come from a hospital nursing role and said that even though she loved her new job, she missed the camaraderie that comes from working alongside her colleagues.

“There’s a special bond between nurses,” she said. “We see the best and the worst life has to throw at people and that bonds us together. In a hospital we would always talk, you know, asking ‘What’s happening this weekend? How’s your little one going?

Mel said last November, as she drove from client to client one Friday afternoon, she was thinking about her BAH colleagues and wondering what they were up to for the weekend.

“And I thought, I’m going to send everyone on the team an email just to say: ‘wondering what you’re all up to. This is what I’m up to and the kids are driving me crackers!’ And I didn’t realise the response I was going to get. Everyone was like: ‘you have to write these every Friday’.”

Since November that’s what she has done. Mel sends chatty emails about her week, her family, plans for the weekend and her love of the job.

Happy Friday to the Dream Team

I love how we all collaborate and work together in order to get the job done well!

Mel says working in community nursing has been more rewarding than she could have imagined.

“You’re not just going in and doing wound care or whatever, it’s all the other things that come with it as well. I find it a real honour to be able to go into people’s homes. Home is where the heart is – that’s where all the love is.”

Sharing the love

Mel’s weekly emails now go to around 10 people and the response is always enthusiastic. She says her colleagues tell her they can’t wait to see what she is going to write about next.

“I didn’t realise it was going to be such a special thing. It was just a way of trying to bring the team together and it’s actually had a really positive effect,” Mel said.

“My Manager loves them. I think the positive feedback and just the way it makes people feel, is a bit like Brightwater. They’re all about making sure everyone’s happy and making sure we’re providing the best service. They’re such an amazing company to work for.”