I am a dignity champion because...

Here are a few statements from existing Dignity Champions about what being a champion means to them.

To find more examples of why people have become Dignity Champions, visit the Dignity Champions Search page.

Shirley Bryan - Senior Carer
"I am a Dignity Champion because the service user has a right to respect, dignity and privacy regardless of their age or disabilities."

Angeles Fernandez - Care Assistant

"I would like to think I have a positive effect on the residents so their lives are lived to the full in their own creativity, self-esteem and happiness."

Rose Wheeler - Care Assistant

"I care for the elderly as a career and want to see them always being treated with respect as an individual and having freedom of choice. Their dignity should be maintained in all interventions."

Marilyn Conner - Carer

"A Dignity Champion is a person who cares for others in their community with respect whoever they are. All Humans are equal and should be treated as such and we are all different, our needs and wants vary from person to person and where ever possible these needs should be meet. Communication with the person who is being supported and other professionals, family and friends is vital and helps to maintain people's independence, listening to people helps them not to feel as lonely and isolated."

Susan Mortimer - Carer

"I believe it is to treat people with dignity and must be able to listen and treat people with respect. Never discriminate or judge. Treat every person as an individual, to give them choice and make their own decision in life. To be non-judgemental regarding age, colour, gender, culture, religion or intellect and always remember that every person on this earth have rights and the right to be treated as equals."

Wendy Smith - Carer

"A Dignity Champion means to me that I have all the right tools for my work and I can do my little bit to influence others to change the way care can be delivered."

Susan McMartin - Reablement Assistant

"To always show respect to people who use our service, maintaining dignity and choice at all times."

Anne M Jones - Reablement Assistant

"To respect peoples dignity and right to privacy and enable people to achieve as maximum independence as possible. To encourage them to be able to complain without fear if there was anything that goes wrong and to treat everybody as an individual."

Linda Greenwood - Reablement Assistant

"I am a Dignity Champion because as a reablement assistant, I respect people and treat them with dignity and privacy and also have a caring attitude."

Anthony Birchall - General Maintenance Worker

"I am a Dignity Champion because I like meeting people, talking to them, trying to cheer them up and make them happy."

Angie Boyes - Home Manager

"I am a Dignity in Care Champion because I want to make a difference to the older generation's lives, I want every aspect of care to be person centred. I believe in everything this campaign stands for I only wish I could do more to help this campaign."

Laura Jarvis - Student Nurse

"I believe I am a Dignity Champion because dignity is part of everything I do in nursing and I would like to help to encourage other members of the healthcare team to do the same."

Mary Whitehorn - Service User

"I would like to become a Dignity Champion to help others who cannot speak up for themselves."

John Walton - Registered Nurse

"As a registered nurse it is my responsibility to look after and care for people who sometimes cannot speak up for themselves. I need to ensure, through my actions, that the people who I care for maintain as high a level of independence, choice and control over their lives as possible and speak out and take action if I feel that their needs are not being met."

Stephanie Mason - Carer

"In the care home in which I work, I actively promote dignity and respect to all our residents everyday. To further this I handed out dignity in care cards to all our staff, promoted the campiagn to eight other care homes in our region at a recent meeting and I have just set up the first support network in Scotland and have contacted all the local dignity champions to join. I believe that through doing this I can spread the word to a lot of other care homes and establishments in Scotland."

Andrea Haswell - Cook

"I believe that everyone should have their rights and choices upheld."

Karen Storey - Activities Co-Ordinator/Carer

"I believe that everyone is entitled to a voice, their opinions matter. Every individual should be allowed to make their own choices, whatever their situation, capabilities, creed, colour, age and gender."

Alison A Godden - Care Assistant

"I feel that it is so very important to get things right in supporting the clients that I assist. To treat them as the human beings that they are and to take the lead from them as to what is right for them."

Adelmo Germano - Portering Officer

"I believe that all people, whether patients, staff or members of the public, should be treated with and also treat others with dignity and courtesy and I believe in the need for choice and individuality."

Bethan Harris - Barrister and Care Giver

"I represent service users in legal cases who are seeking to preserve their independence and dignity through appropriate services and remaining in the community. My clients require services that are tailored to very specific needs, e.g. individuals with autism, and I have gained a great deal of insight into how carefully tailored a service needs to be to meet need in a way that provides dignity and quality of life. I also have a child with cerebral palsy and know from personal experience the difference between a tailored service and one that is not and consequently barely worth having."

Arthur Smith - Resident

"I am living in a Sheltered Housing Scheme in the Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. My aims are to give compassion and help to my fellow residents and other Sheltered Housing Residents in Richmond upon Thames, to improve living standards and conditions, assist with advice and help to minimise suffering and incapacity."

Jasmine Charlson - Care Professional

"I wanted to become a Dignity Champion because a fellow nurse is one and has made a difference on the ward already. When the other staff see the dignity champion badge they make sure that dignity and privacy count, for example they make sure that the patient's curtains or door is shut, and it is amazing that a nurse wearing a badge can make that difference."

Carole Wardle - Home Manager - Station House Nursing Home - Care UK

"I am passionate about fulfilling the lives of the residents and their families in a way in which the human approach and positive relationships are of utmost importance. I strive to assist my team to stay informed, and will not tolerate any negative behaviours which affect a persons dignity in detrimental way. Focus is on the little things that make a difference. My deputy has recently said to the staff team "It is a priviledge for you to work here each day. You are coming into someone else's home and are afforded that priviledge of supporting someone who is in a vulnerable situation". I think this sums up dignity, and may we all continue to have this as a focus each and every day."

Daniel Carrasco - Health Care Assistant - Avon View - Christchurch

"I am a Dignity Champion because I support service users in my organisation by maintaining dignity and respecting their privacy when I am doing personal care and listening to their needs with due respect, offering them a person-centred care by offering them the choices and time to decide what they want to do in their life."

Dr J A Adiotomre - Consultant Physician

"I am a Dignity Champion because I am passionate about the care of Adults, especially Older People, who should be treated with dignity and respect. In my role as Consultant Physician with special interest in the Care of Older People and Lead Clinician for the National Service Framework for Older People in the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. I am actively involved in promoting the care for Older People and ensuring that Older People are treated with respect, dignity and according to their clinical needs and NOT based on their age. The attitude to the care of Older People is gradually changing for good but there is still much work to be done with the Dignity Campaign under the leadership of the National Dignity Ambassador, Sir Michael Parkinson."

Barbara Cochee - Northern Doctors Urgent Care - Head of Service Development

"I am a Dignity Champion because I work for an out of hours provider of primary care services in the North East of England. My role is service developmentand I am keen to support and develop our workforce in terms of delivering the highes levels of care relating to dignity and respect for all of our patients. Being involved with this campaign will ensure that I am in the best position to be able to understake this work."

James Darby - I.S.S. Transport Manager

"We all get older and sometimes ill. If we all treated each other as we would like to be treated when we are not at our best, it would be a better world."

Jason Mclean - Southern Cross - A.S.C. and Shop Steward

"I am a Dignity Champion becaise I love to care for residents in the way I treat my own parents and grandparents, no matter where they come from, as we are all related through God."

Sarah Gimson, Birmingham City Council, Lead Manager, Service Modernisation and Planning

"I am a Dignity Champion because I have a strong belief that all members of the human race have a natural born right to be equal. This coupled with the amazing relationships that I have had over the years with people who have a disability. I have gained more than I have given. I have such respect for what people have been through and have overcome. I am honoured that I have been allowed to be a part of their lives."

Teresa Day, SHIELD Lead, Health Promotion Specialist

"I am a Dignity Champion because I work as a Health Promotion Specialist - sexual health for people with learning disabilities and they are not seen as sexual beings. Sexuality is a facet of our personality and people with learning disabilities are not just socially excluded but denied the Human right article 8 - right to private and family life! SHIELD (Sexual Health Innovative Education for Learning Disabilities) is an award winning programmed that I developed to identify and meet the sexual needs of these people and their staff, carers and parents. Sexuality is not about the mechanical act its about the whole person. It is not about sexualizing vulnerable people - it is about supporting their needs in relationships and social inclusion. The SHIELD programme is sought after nationally but until we have a national commitment to support sexuality of people who have learning disabilities it will stay within its current confines. "

Jasper Bateley, Bristol City Council, Transformation Project Manager.

"I decided to become a Dignity Champion becuase I think everyone has a responsibility to actively protect vulnerable people. Every person deserves respect and kindness. When I go to work, I cannot just leave my moral obligations at home, I take them with me wherever I go."

Chris Born, NHS North Somerset, Chief Executive

"I decided to become a Dignity Champion because I believe if we can get dignity right, then everything else (quality, responsiveness and equality) we need to do with patients and their carers will follow."

Tas Bhatti, Healthcare Training (UK) Ltd, Operations Director

"I decided to become a Dignity Champion because we, as a company, and personally, act as good role models by treating other people with respect, particularly those who are less able to stand up for themselves. We appreciate and understand the right of all individuals to be treated as equals in all ways."

Alan Clark MBE

"As ambulance staff we have a unique opportunity to see first-hand situations where someone in need is not always treated well or fairly by the system and do not always know what support is available to them. We have been invited into their home or care environment and as part of our assessment see the conditions they are in or the way they are treated and/or spoken to. We are also at times in need of care and support ourselves and hope that we are treated with respect as an individual and not a number as I have witnessed in the past." Read Alan's full article