Cars for Care

We know that many industries and businesses have suffered this year as a result of the Pandemic, but in contrast, the lockdowns and restrictions for seeing loved ones and mixing in households has resulted in a vastly increased workload here at Cavell Healthcare. As a result, we have taken on 17 new carers since March, along with two additional team members in our office.

However, the pandemic has presented us with other issues. Not only has acquiring enough PPE and the respective costs of that been challenging, we have been faced with logistical challenges, including transport and ensuring our carers are in the right place at the right time. The counties we predominately serve, namely Norfolk and Suffolk, just happen to represent a huge square mile radius and with many of our clients isolated in towns and villages around the counties, many without public transport, it is necessary to provide cars for some of our core team. So whilst we were able to ‘muddle through’ in the first country-wide lockdown, it did identify an urgent need for additional vehicles. Which is how our CEO, Gordon Anderson, found himself in the SLM Toyota showroom.

He explains:
“I had been advised to look at self-charging hybrid cars for the business, so with the Toyota showroom on our doorstep I thought I would pop over and see what they had available. It definitely makes sense for the business to switch to hybrid – not only because it saves us money on fuel, but it is the right decision for the environment. Toyota has a range of different hybrids which are perfect for us here at Cavell Healthcare as they seamlessly switch between petrol and electric power sources. Plus, they are self-charging, which means the team don’t need to worry about plugging in to recharge their batteries when they are out and about.”

In fact, what started as a speculative trip to look at cars, ended up in an order for three new company cars, including two stylish Toyota Corolla hybrids. What was more impressive however, is the support Cavell Healthcare received from SLM Toyota. When they heard that we were struggling with our existing transport arrangements, they lent us two courtesy vehicles free of charge for two months!

Business Centre Manager for SLM Toyota, Joanne Rutledge, explains:
“I think it is important, especially during the current pandemic, to support other businesses. SLM is a family firm, which was founded in 1959 and still has family members running the company on a day to day basis, and they believe in working with the community. So when we realised Gordon and his team urgently needed transport to get the team on the road and delivering their vital service to their clients, we were really happy to be able help by lending two of our courtesy cars.

To be honest, it was lovely to see someone in person in the showroom! Whilst the pandemic has not affected our sales, we have seen a dramatic shift in how people buy cars. Prior to the lockdown in March we were slowly beginning to see a move towards online sales, but this accelerated overnight and we suddenly found ourselves in a position of having to fast-track our new website to meet this demand.”

Here at Cavell, we prefer the face-to-face service and love the fact that Joanne was able to deliver the new cars in person!