Joyce Andrews Awards 2023

05 December 2023

Each year, the Joyce Andrews Award is presented to member of staff who has contributed the most to the delivery of standards of care throughout the year.

The award recognises the hard work and commitment of the winner to deliver a standard of care that empowers and supports individuals with different abilities to have an enriched life experience based on their own decisions and choices.

This year, the awards include two new special recognition categories, for the individual and the team who contributed the most to the delivery of standards of care. Presented by Chief Executive, Brendan O’Connor, the winners in 2023 are

  • Joyce Andrews Award Winner: Pauline O’Grady, Residents Services
  • Individual Special Recognition Award: Sarah Lynch, Day Services
  • Individual Team Recognition Award: House 25, Residents Services
Pauline O'Grady, Brendan O'Connor, Amy Dunican representing House 25 Team and Sarah Lynch.

Joyce Andrews Award – Pauline O’Grady 

Pauline first came to Stewarts Care as a student nurse and has worked in a variety of locations in both adult and children's services. 

Pauline is an immovable advocate for those we support, always putting the person at the forefront of care planning. In 2020, Pauline became a Person-in-Charge and has excelled in this role. She achieved our very first ever full compliance in a Designated Centre, followed by two further full compliances in children’s respite services this year.  

Pauline was instrumental in achieving our ambition to operate our respite services at 100% occupancy and has done this for the past 18 months. Only not achieving this for 3 nights due to property issues. A remarkable achievement. Today, our respite services are the only fully compliant respite service in the country and the only respite service achieving 100% occupancy across all 20 beds for 12 months. 

Pauline is a truly deserving recipient of the Joyce Andrews Award 2023. 

Individual Special Recognition Award - Sarah Lynch

Sarah started in Stewarts Care as a Personal Assistant in 2009. Some years later she became a Healthcare Assistant in Rossecourt Training Centre and returned to education with a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Disability Studies.

Sarah is the epitome of person centredness and her commitment to those we support and to building relationships is second to none. She is flexible and understanding and will do whatever it takes to help people achieve their goals.

Sarah is an advocate for positive change and improvement and is constantly looking for ways to innovate and learn.  She has been involved in the ASDAN Module Development Training Group and the Keyworker Skills Development Peer Led Working Group and was also instrumental in the rollout of Eclipse, our new Healthcare Record System, across the organisation and the development of peer led training materials.

Team Special Recognition Award - House 25 Team

The team in House 25 specialises in providing support for those with complex needs and provide residents with a multi-disciplinary and positive approach to living. They work closely with behaviour support and mental health teams to provide supports in line with individual needs.

Over the past few years, but rapidly accelerating in 2023, the focus of the team in this home has moved from keeping people safe to enabling them to live happy, meaningful, and fulfilled lives.

This is a highly skilled and motivated team, with a culture that is ambitious and supportive, and where positive risk taking is the norm, supporting residents to experience an enriched life based on their own choices. The team’s effort, hard work, positive culture and huge ambition in supporting David, Alan, Majella and Sarah has earned them the Special Recognition Team Award of the year.

Colleagues, residents and day attenders gather at the Joyce Andrews Award Ceremony