Listener Choice Awards 2018
Who should win each of our Listener Choice Awards? You can vote now in as many categories as you wish. These are the finalists
There When You Need Them
Open Arms (Selby) Ltd
About Them
We are a small business offering in house and community support to adults with learning disabilities. We are person centred and put our clients first, our staff all have experience with individuals with learning disabilities be it personally or professionally. Our in house service boasts a range of activities for our clients and our 1-1 allows our clients to access facilities and learn lots of things with us. We love what we do and take great satisfaction with working with out clients, families and others!
Why Should They Win?
Open Arms have gone above and beyond for our clients and often, their families too. This includes early mornings, late nights and weekends taking our clients and families to their hospital appointments, ensuring clients get home safely and being there for them. A lot of these extra hours are done voluntarily by our team because we have a genuine caring attitude for our clients and our main goal is to ensure they are safe, happy and looked after. With the closure of many support groups, Open Arms also do our utmost best to deliver what our clients need/ request while keeping the prices as low as we can.
Woodhaven Boarding Kennels and Cattery and Second Chance Rehoming
About Them
We have two elements to the business, we have the Boarding Kennels and Cattery where we care for people's pets as if they were our own. We often take pets in for emergency care when their owners find themselves in difficult situations, along with when people are away on holiday, or day Boarding. Our staff are devoted to making both the animals stay and the owners experience a pleasurable and memorable one. The second element is Second Chance Rehoming where we are committed to Rehoming the Selby District stray dogs. We never turn a homeless dog away and work hard to rehabilitate and give all required vet treatment, home checks and trials to ensure the perfect home for previously unwanted dogs as we have a no kill policy .
Why Should They Win?
After a very difficult start to the year when the owner of the kennels, and a brilliant friend to both staff and customers alike was suddenly taken from us in an heartbreaking accident, we have worked so hard to keep going and feel we have bounced back and hope we are doing him proud. The staff have worked tirelessly to ensure they have gone above and beyond to make both the dogs and cats have a wonderful stay, making improvements to the business, and we now have our exercise paddock along with a lot of other exciting changes. We have successfully rehomed hundreds of unwanted dogs, and reunited people with their beloved pets. Our doors are always open for stray animals, with a warm comfy bed and a hearty meal, any time of the day or night.
York Against Cancer
About Them
Since it launched 30 years ago York Against Cancer has raised more than £15 million for cancer care, research and education in York and around. We founded and support the work of the Cancer Care Unit at York Hospital and the Jack Birch Unit at the University of York, where our internationally recognised cancer research is carried out. We run a daily minibus taking people from the York area to Leeds for radiotherapy and our award-winning mobile chemotherapy unit brings treatment closer to home for patients in outlying areas while relieving pressure on the main hospital units at York and Scarborough. Our two luxury respite properties, at Whitby and Filey, offer free short breaks to patients treated by the York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust so that they can unwind with family and friends. Our dermatoscopes project is helping Vale of York GPs detect skin cancer more quickly. Our education packs offer cancer prevention and awareness messages to school pupils throughout the area and we give away thousands of sunhats to reception-age schoolchildren every year. We do this with the help of our small workforce and our dedicated army of volunteers, winners of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
Why Should They Win?
Many organisations in York are there when you need them. All provide an important service to the local community, but not many will see people at such a vulnerable time as when they turn to us. We are honoured to offer practical help and advice to people diagnosed with cancer and their families, giving them a service that offers the human touch when they may be undergoing difficult procedures or facing the bewildering life challenges that can often come with a cancer diagnosis. For patients travelling to Leeds for radiotherapy, we can help eliminate the worry of getting to hospital for treatment and home again afterwards. We can boost people's morale with pampering sessions or help with wig fitting and make-up after treatment. We can give people the chance to get away from their stresses and strains and offer them precious family time in a relaxing, luxurious and peaceful seaside setting. Staff that we fund can offer support to help patients and their families find the assistance they need with everything from talking to children about a cancer diagnosis to tackling financial issues.
St Leonard's Hospice
About Them
St Leonard's Hospice is an independent charity, providing specialist palliative care and support for local people with life limiting illnesses. The Hospice is made up of an In-patient Unit, Sunflower Centre and Hospice@Home service. Every patient is recognised and treated as an individual, and as a result are able to enjoy the best possible quality of life. Care also extends to support families and carers. A hospice is not just a building; it is a way of caring for people. In addition to a team of highly experienced doctors and nurses, the Hospice has specialists in a wide range of roles including complementary therapy, lymphoedema care, physiotherapy, social work, bereavement, occupational therapy and spiritual care. St Leonard's care is free of charge to patients and their families but not free to provide. As a charity they rely heavily on the generosity of the public to raise over £5.2 million each year that it takes to run St Leonard's Hospice. This equates to £595 for every hour of every day. Although St Leonard's does get some public funding the majority of the running costs have to be raised from donations and fundraising by the local community - businesses, groups and individuals.
Why Should They Win?
A hospice can seem like a scary place as, often, it means you or someone you love is nearing end of life. Patients and their families and carers often speak of how our staff were there when they needed it the most, and made things a lot easier at one of the most difficult periods in their life. As well as the In-patient Unit, our Sunflower Centre enables us to see patients a lot earlier in diagnosis and our Hospice@Home services gives patients the choice of receiving hospice care in their own home. Our care extends to families and carers too through the Sunflower Centre and then bereavement support following the death of their loved one. In 2017/18 we had 316 patients on the In-patient Unit, 175 patients attended our Sunflower Centre with over 1,000 separate appointments, and Hospice@Home saw 513 patients in their own home. These numbers are rising year on year. We work closely with other care organisations and also deliver end of life care training across the Vale of York including to nursing and care homes, a homeless organisation, Benedictine convent and a Monastery. We currently hold an "˜Outstanding' rating, awarded by the Care Quality Commission.
Strensall Day Care Centre
About Them
Our Day Care Centre is for the over 50's, but predominantly for people with Dementia and Dementia related illnesses, Parkinson's disease and other health issues. Our aim is to promote independence, providing emotional and social stimulation and well-being leading to a better quality of life in a safe, comfortable well equipped home from home environment, which in turn can also be key to a person being able to remain in their own home for longer. We enable family carers to have the break that they need (often at very short notice - which we are able to cater for) knowing that their loved ones are being well looked after. We encourage client participation in various activities including, baking, crafts, quizzes, dominoes, singing, reminiscence plus many many more. We can also arrange for both chiropodist and hairdresser visits.
Why Should They Win?
We know we make a massive difference to a person's life, in many ways. We know that we've enabled many of our clients remain in their own homes for longer through regular attendance at the Centre, we work with their family to create a care package that can provide much needed regular daily/weekly respite for family carers. Our fully trained staff are passionate about providing fun, laughter, social stimulation and interaction with others, ensuring a great experience every time. We are aware of each person's own needs and abilities and create activities that enables everyone to take part. Some of the key issues for family carers of people with Dementia, is knowing that their loved one is safe, happy and being well cared, whilst at the same time enjoying social interaction with others. This is through offering sessions geared to their abilities, and this shows when they have participated in an activity, it could be baking biscuits, playing dominoes, or getting a strike playing skittles, or one of the other numerous activities that we provide. When a client leaves the Centre laughing or with a smile on their face, we know that we have done our job!
PC Revamp
About Them
We're a family run business located near Leeman Road in York and we provide our customers with Computer and Gadget repairs which can range from phone repairs of all natures to helping out with IT Support for those who need it.
Why Should They Win?
We feel we should win this award because despite not being the one place anyone wants to actually go, we make coming to PC Revamp less of a chore with the level of service we provide. Our Facebook reviews speak volume, the work we've put into the workplace in the last 3 years is like non other in York for the trade we provide and we simply make breaking your phone less painful. One thing that makes our day is being able to recover precious data from phones in desperate times when phones have become too damaged and haven't been backed up - pictures and memories are precious and we're here to turn a sad face into a smile when it matters most.
ee Green is a company born and bred in Yorkshire. Based in Clifton Moor, the team develop websites and online systems for businesses and organisations all across the UK, not just locally. However, the local connection is very important to them. See Green plan, design and develop websites that work hard – from promoting a brand to full scale e-commerce, intranets and management systems. But don’t worry if that means nothing to you, they would help you through the whole process using plain English, not tech talk. See Green pride themselves on passion and professionalism, offering honest and open advice and expertise. Celebrating ten years in business, See Green have delivered over 1,200 projects, manage more than 500 domain names and regularly have over a million people visiting websites they’ve created each day.
