Elizabeth and Felicity, two health care assistants with the vision to actively raise the standard of care: through, raising awareness, providing training and advocating for health care assistants in the care home and community's.

For years now Elizabeth and Felicity, along with many of their colleagues, have witnessed the crisis in social care around recruiting, retaining, recognizing and properly rewarding Healthcare Assistants, where turnover of staff is only exceeded by the hospitality sector, and the standard of care is hampered by the failure to introduce standardized practical ‘hands-on’ accredited training.

Yet Healthcare Assistants continue to form the backbone of the NHS and social care and are an essential support to doctors and nurses nationwide. Incredibly, the notion still persists that Healthcare Assistants are unskilled, or low-skilled, despite two thirds of Healthcare Assistants performing roles usually undertaken by their nursing counterparts.

This led them to start their journey to begin - Nightingales Army.

Nightingales Army is community interest company, with a difference. Ran by health care assistants for health care assistants. Elizabeth and Felicity have designed a long term plan and solution to the crisis within the health and social care sector, support current staff and encourage new staff into their chosen career in care.

As well as promoting correct working rights, speaking up, whistle blowing, providing HR consultancy, advice and membership through affiliations for health care assistants. Nightingales Army aims to promote current charities and charitable bodies who are providing an invaluable service to the public and social care sector already. And who have had an extremely difficult year with Covid.

We as care assistants know the services charities provide to those in need and their family and friends is necessary, for those living with: Dementia, mental health, Cancer, PTSD, and many other conditions. These charities can be the only source of non-bias opinions, advice, help and guidance. Often completely free and ran by volunteers, charities like the ones we have chosen to support, need to be rewarded and accredited for what they achieve and how they help us as health care assistants to fulfill our duty of care. This is what we aim to do with raising awareness and fundraising goals for our desert Sahara trek.

Thanks to Discover Adventure we can achieve this goal of fundraising and a once in a life time opportunity and challenge of physical endurance. For 9days Elizabeth and Felicity will be trekking across the Sahara desert in up to 35 degrees C, humid and dry heat. Walking across stone, sand and steep terrain for up to 8 hours covering 24 miles in total. Sleeping in communal tents, eating local cuisine, sleeping under the stars and walking... walking... walking!!!!

Felicity is walking for MIND, Elizabeth is walking for Dementia UK. Represented by Nightingales Army CIC.

Both Elizabeth and felicity have suffered with mental health over the years and even recently during the Covid lock down, MIND and their services are important to both ladies where they have personally had access to support and benefited from the service. Elizabeth currently works in a Dementia led home through Anchor Hanover and lost her Nan to Dementia in 2018, Dementia and the care of those living with Dementia is second nature to Elizabeth and she wishes to share her experience with others, encourage those to be educated about Dementia and break the taboo around mental health.

Help Nightingales Army reach their goal today! And watch as they walk across the Sahara desert in 2022!!