The Zorghub is a great stepping stone to a permanent job in healthcare

Kim van Dodewaard (33), single mother of three young children, has been working at De Bieslandhof nursing home of care organisation Pieter van Foreest through Zorghub since October 2022. Things are going so well that she has been allowed to take the Helpende Zorg en Welzijn course and a permanent position is in sight.

Pregnancy prevented Kim from completing her intermediate vocational training in Helping Care and Welfare as a 20-year-old. A divorce, a traffic accident and corona meant she was unable to work for an extended period of time. In 2019, she applied for benefits and in 2022 joined the Care Hub. This is a collaboration between Werkse! and Delft healthcare organisations to create care jobs for people on welfare.

Hostess at De Bieslandhof
‘With my background, the Care Hub was immediately the place to start working. Since October 2022, I have been working as a hostess at De Bieslandhof with elderly people with dementia. I provide food and drinks for the residents, but also do activities with them. And because I hang out with the people a lot, it is also my job to report to the care staff about their situation.’

Happy with care gubbers
Kim is one of four care gubbers working at De Bieslandhof, led by team manager Darya Wortel. Darya is happy with them: ‘We see it as a social mission to help these people get back into paid work. But especially in corona time, their help also came at just the right time. After all, we had to pull out all the stops to give people quality of life when little or no visitors were allowed.’

Sufficient guidance increases success rate
Darya advises employers to recruit people through Zorghub, under the condition that they can offer sufficient guidance. ‘That increases the chance of success, especially in the beginning. You shouldn’t see people as extra hands but really as apprentices who need guidance to learn the trade.’ About Kim, she enthuses: ‘She does a super good job. She has a good connection with residents and with colleagues.’

Permanent job
Things are going so well for Kim that she has been allowed to start the Helpende zorg en welzijn course via Pieter van Foreest. ‘The same course I had to leave as a twenty-year-old. I’m very happy with that! We are working towards a permanent position as an aide,’ she says.

Whether a permanent job is also on the horizon for every Care Hub employee at Pieter van Foreest, Darya cannot say. ‘It is different for every candidate. Some move on to permanent employment quickly, while for others it takes longer. But wherever possible, we work towards that permanent job in consultation. That goes step by step: slowly getting used to the schedule, keeping appointments, dealing with your employer and so on.’

Zorghub: a nice stepping stone
Kim advises social assistance recipients who prefer to work in care to do so via the Zorghub: ‘The Zorghub is a nice stepping stone to a permanent job in care. If there are problems, you can discuss them with your job coach. You are given time to adjust your home situation to the irregular schedule and, if necessary, you are given help: for instance, childcare has been arranged for my one-and-a-half-year-old son, on the premises of De Bieslandhof, no less. That’s great, isn’t it!