Scheme Manager, Maimuna

Maimuna Drammeh is our Scheme Manager at Orchard House in Erdington, Birmingham. Orchard House is a scheme for the over-60s.

Maimuna has recently joined the Group and works mornings on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday and afternoons on a Wednesday and Thursday.

Here, we join Maimuna during one of her Monday shifts as she gets a week up and running…

7.30am
My day always starts early, as I get up and get ready for work. My attention then turns to my kids, who I need to make sure are up and ready for school. I drop them off by 8.30am and as Orchard House is about a 10 minute drive, I manage to make it to the office for 9am.

9am 
Once I get to Orchard House, I head straight to my office and check my emails. After a weekend, I usually have quite a few, but I prioritise and reply to the most urgent and relevant messages.

9.30am 
It’s time to go and see the residents of Orchard House. I do my rounds, checking in on them face-to-face and asking them if they need any help or support. I also ask if they have any outstanding issues I can help with, or provide them with an update on any ongoing repairs or other cases.

I also like to sit down and have a chat with some of the residents, as I know some of them can feel a bit lonely and like to speak with someone. I’m always more than happy to do this.

10.30am
Once I’ve been and checked in on all the residents, I’ve got other checks I need to do. On a weekly basis, I check our fire alarms, make sure lifts are working, check on the water supply and a lot of other important elements.

I then need to report my findings back to more senior colleagues so they can be logged and any works required actioned.

11am 
A resident has come in to see me to report an issue with their front door. I help them report this as an urgent repair and let them know I’ll monitor the progress of it.

11.30am
I print off the newsletter that’s delivered to residents at Orchard House and go on my rounds again to give it to them.

While out and about around the scheme, I do find a new issue with a fire door exit which could have affected residents when trying to access the lift.

This is obviously an urgent issue that needs to be reported as soon as possible, so I make a note of it and will report it when I’m finished.

11.45am
Once back in my office, I report the issue I discovered with the fire door exit straight away. I’ll be waiting for an update.

12pm
Time for a quick break and a cup of tea!

1pm
I make further enquiries about the fire door issue and manage to arrange for an engineer to be sent the next day to repair both affected doors.

It’s nearly time for me to finish now for the day, so I check my emails one last time so I know I’ve not missed anything urgent.

2pm
Time to head home to be ready for the kids to get back from school. Back to it all tomorrow!