Meet the team

“The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, your attention, your love and your concern- Joel Osteen”

My name is Emma Dennis and I was born and raised in Palmerstown in County Dublin. I come from a family five and I am one of triplets. I am the General Manager for Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow. I have been working for Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow for the past 11 years. I have had an amazing journey so far with the company. Its been one of the most incredible journey’s and experiences I have ever endeavoured. I am so proud of how far I have come in the business.

My journey in to care started well before taking a job as a carer with Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow in 2012. I have always wanted to help others and after growing up around the area of disabilities due to my brother having autism and special needs, I knew I wanted to help others in need. Losing my best friend to a rare condition at the age of 15 and being 14 at the time myself really solidified things in my own head to make  the decision to pursue a career in nursing as I would help her in her time of need. My best friend was my greatest inspiration and seeing her strength, courage and determination to live a normal life with a rare condition and helping her along the way made me want to help others that may be in a similar position. My family always told me I should get into the area of disabilities as they loved seeing my interactions with my brother, but also my brothers fellow students in school at the time and they really believed I had an ability to help those with intellectual disabilities, but I felt personally it was just a little too close to home. I have always been very close with my grandparents who have sadly passed and I have always felt a strong connection with the elderly community and really felt this was an area of care I would like to get in to when pursing my nursing career. I would also visit my favourite neighbour who was elderly from the age of five. I would visit her six days a week and even try to skip homework in primary and secondary school just so I could spend time with her. We really did have the best time.

When I received my leaving certificate results in 2008, things didn’t go according to plan and I didn’t get into third level education straight away and felt my dream of being a nurse was going to be taken away from me. I did not have other alternative courses lined up as I was naive to think I would get straight into third level education based on the points I got in my leaving certificate. I fought tooth and nail to get in to Inchicore College of Further Education where I completed a one year course “Fetac Level 5 in Pre- Nursing Studies”. I had an amazing experience in this course and it was actually the making of me. I had a couple of placements throughout the one year course I participated in. I got to work in Stewart’s Hospital, St. Raphael’s Mental Health service and I also completed an 8 week placement in Sweden as part of their Erasmus programme, where I got to work and live in one of the most amazing nursing homes in the north of Sweden. It was a place called Boden. The nursing home was called Ågarden. It was one of the most incredible experiences and I worked with the elderly over there. I will never forget it. I did very well with the course and got 11 distinctions 1 merit out of the 12 modules I completed. I reapplied for a nursing position in Ireland and sadly failed to get in to nursing in Ireland for a second year straight. This time I had used my common sense and pursed other avenues of care and looked at courses in social care e.g Applied Social Studies in Social Care. I applied for this course in multiple colleges around Ireland, including Dublin and finally got a position in Blanchardstown.

I started in the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown in 2009 and graduated in 2013 with both an ordinary and first class honours degree in Applied Social Studies in Social Care. I completed two placements whilst in college and one was in The RTC in St. Joseph’s in Celbridge and one placement in a school completion programme in St. Louise’s in Ballyfermot. Both were amazing experiences.

Throughout my degree I decided to become a carer with Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow. I started with Bluebird Care in 2012 as carer and worked for about a year and a half or two years visiting customers and providing all aspects of PADL’s. I really enjoyed working with the elderly and also working my fellow carer’s. Seeing how you could care for the older community in their home really inspired me and made me see the bigger aspect of care in general society. I had some of the most beautiful customers that I cared for. All have past, but it made me feel great to make a small difference in their lives even if it was just getting some ready for the day or having a cup of tea or a chat. I loved it.

I was given the opportunity then around end of 2013, start of 2014 to come into the office as my boss had a meeting with me and asked me where did I see myself going in my career. I told him I would love to set up my own company or even at least see myself running a home care company myself one day. With that I was still doing some care work and started doing administrative jobs in the office and then fell into the role of being the Care Co-ordinator. I was responsible for the: allocation of care assistants with the right skills and experience to deliver the best quality care and support to each customer, organising care assistant rotas to minimise changes to the service and travel between customer’s homes, responding efficiently to day to day changes in the care and support packages and dealing with general enquiries from the public about potential HCP’s both private and HSE.  I completed this role for about 6 to 6.5years and then we got bigger and hired more co-ordinators and by the end of 2018, start of 2019, I fell into more of a managerial role within the business. I finally found two beautiful co-ordinators that I work with now who are incredible and I am now the General Manager for the office. I am responsible for the management of the office, but I am the main Manager and guide for the co-ordinating team with Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow.

In 2021 I was nominated for an award for “Care Co-Ordinator” of the year by my Director of the company Greg Darcy. I was named as the Care Coordinator of the Year at inaugural HCCI Home Care Awards 2021 in the Shelbourne hotel, Dublin. The following year 2022 I was nominated again by Greg Darcy for another award “Manager of the Year”. I was named as Manager of the Year at the Bluebird Care Awards 2022 in the Shelbourne hotel Dublin. I never would of thought in a million years I would achieve so much in one company and come so far. It’s really was the most amazing time to achieve all this as I had just been with the company 10 years, we had been going through a hard time with a pandemic, I had lost some loved ones throughout this time and then we had to deal with a cyber attack on our rostering system. It was a challenging time and I honestly don’t know how I would of gotten through this time this without my beautiful team in BBC DSE and Wicklow. I work with the most amazing team and we are all working for the same reason. We want our elderly customers to experience the best quality care in the comfort of their own homes for as long as possible.

My philosophy of care is grounded in the belief that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion, and that their needs and preferences should be respected at all times. I believe in the power of listening and empathizing with the elderly customers we care for, but also providing an openness for their family members to talk to us as it can be very stressful for extended family members too who are looking after their loved ones. I believe by doing this we can truly understand the customers unique circumstances and challenges and try and facilitate the best quality care they need based on those circumstances. I believe you have to be kind, generous and show a deep commitment to making a positive difference in the customers lives. This means that their physical, emotional and social needs are met by empathy and respect.

I love working for Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow. There are days were it can be very stressful, but as I always say to my team there is never a dull day and always new challenge awaiting on the horizon. I would rather work in an environment that challenges me and this company gives me that every day.

I feel privileged to be here and I am so grateful for every opportunity that has arisen for me with BBC DSE and Wicklow. Our Carer’s are also very special also. Without these individuals working with our customers every day, our lovely customers would not be able to live an independent life at home. Thank you carer’s of Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow.

“Home Is Where the Heart Is”

“I graduated in 2012 with a BSc Intellectual Disability Nursing. I loved every bit of my training and gained valuable experiencing caring for people with intellectual disabilities, particularly those who presented with reactive behaviours and those with severe/profound intellectual disabilities and high dependency needs. I have had the opportunity to take part in further training since completing my degree, including Epilepsy management with temple street hospital, certified MAPA instructor training and Safeguarding vulnerable adults instructor training. I began working in a nursing home in 2014 and it is then that my love for caring for older people developed. I went on to stay working in long term care until 2019, initially starting as a Staff Nurse and working my way up to Assistant Director of Nursing. I made the move to homecare in 2019 when I started my career with Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow. It has been a challenge but I love working with our customers and staff to ensure that the customers receive the care they need to continue living at home independently.

For our carers, I am always available for guidance and support. No question is every wrong and the carers are the backbone of our company. We have a great team here in Bluebird Care DSE and Wicklow and I would encourage people to get in contact with us and see what we are all about!”

Greg and Jennifer Darcy are the Directors of Bluebird Care

After finishing secondary school, I completed health care courses in Pre nursing, Community & Health and Pre paramedics. My friends and family always thought I would do something with animals as I am a big animal lover however, while doing these courses, they led me into doing work experience in nursing homes and day centres and I knew I would like a career working with older people. In April of 2019 I started working as a health care assistant with Bluebird Care and it helped me practice my skills I developed during my college courses. Throughout my time as a healthcare assistant, Bluebird Care have offered extra support and knowledge by doing monthly policies and procedures and online courses that would give the carers up to date information about best practice and I have learned so much from working here!

In September of 2020 I was kindly offered a position to be a member of the Care Team as one of the Care Supervisors and it has not only helped with my abilities as a health care assistant, but also my confidence and growth as a person. I am very grateful for the team I get to work with every day and as I say to our lovely customers, “it doesn’t matter what age we are in life, we could always do with a helping hand.”

My name is Andrew Kinsella and  I grew up in a place called Conary in Wicklow.

When I left school I went to work on a  farm in the neighbouring village of Redcross where I worked for a number of years.

When I was 24 I decided to move to the UK where I joined an agency and was sent to work in a variety of jobs which I enjoyed for a while but felt that I needed to move on to something different as I felt that this wasn’t challenging enough. After discussing this with a colleague she asked had I ever thought about working in Care which at the time I hadn’t considered.

I decided to apply for a job with Age Concern as a Homecare Assistant which to my surprise I came to really enjoy. After working there for a short time, I was promoted to being a Supervisor which meant that I was doing the Emergency On-Call service as well as doing staff supervisions, spot checks and continuing to delivering care.

After doing this for many years one day the Director of the company asked me would I like to consider becoming a CareCo-Ordinator. After thinking this over for a while I decided to give it a go which again to my surprise, I came to really enjoy  and always had a good working relationship with my colleagues. After several years doing this a friend of mine which I had previously worked with had gone on to become a manager at an Independent Care Complex and offered me a job as her Assistant Care Manager which I gladly accepted and enjoyed for several years.

When the covid-19 pandemic broke out things became very strange for me as I was used to returning to Ireland several times a year and always had the pleasure of my family visiting me throughout the year also. This all came to a stop, and I felt very isolated and only had work to look forward to. After contracting the virus twice, I decided it was time to think about moving back to Ireland to be near my family. I applied for several jobs in the area that I grew up in and to my surprise I wasn’t offered any that I applied to. I asked a friend to drop my CV in at Bluebird Care as her business was beside it and she had given me good feedback saying that she knew the staff and they all seemed to be doing well and to be really nice people. I later received a phone call from Greg and was invited to an interview which I agreed to attend and afterwards I felt that it had gone okay. To my delight I was offered the job as a Care Co-Ordinator and after considering this I felt that it was to good an opportunity to turn down, so I gladly accepted the position.

I was given the time to return to the UK to work my notice, sell my house and after 31 years moved back to Ireland. Since starting work at Bluebird Care, I have felt like a part of the team from the start, everyone has been very friendly and supportive and I feel that I have made the right  decision.

A graduate of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, Jane is our Recruitment Manager who is responsible for the recruitment of healthcare personnel for Bluebird Care Southeast including sourcing, managing and interviewing each individual applicant.

Having over 15 years’ experience in recruitment prior to joining Bluebird Care Jane brings a confidence and familiarity of the recruitment process with her.

Prior to this Jane was employed as PA to a leading planning and environmental consultant advising on many of Ireland’s high profile commercial developments.