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Nurse in the running for inspirational businesswoman award

Julia Senah set up community care business after experiencing amnesia and partial paralysis
Julia Senah, founder and clinical director of Almond Care, has been nominated for 'inspirational businesswoman' award

Julia Senah set up specialist care business after experiencing amnesia and partial paralysis

Julia Senah, founder and clinical director of Almond Care, has been nominated for 'inspirational businesswoman' award
Julia Senah Picture: Lensi Photography

A nurse who set up a successful business providing nurse-led specialist care after surviving a traumatic surgery has been nominated for an award.

Julia Senah is the founder and clinical director of Almond Care, which helps people with brain injuries, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis, and those on long-term ventilation, by providing care in their own homes.

Helping patients in the community regain control

She has been nominated as a finalist in the NatWest everywoman Awards, in the category of most inspirational woman running a business for ten years or more. The awards, which will be announced in an online ceremony on 3 December, celebrate female entrepreneurs from any industry or profession.

Ms Senah, who is originally from Zimbabwe, qualified as an adult nurse in 2003 and has worked across the NHS, from gynaecology to emergency care and cardiothoracic critical care.

‘I also did some work in the community and I found some of the clients who needed complex care being labelled as difficult and complaining,’ she said.

After giving birth to her son via elective caesarean section in 2009, she suffered complications from placenta accreta. ‘I ended up having a hysterectomy. When I woke up, I had amnesia and was partially paralysed. I gradually got my memory back over a few days and wanted to get some control back. It dawned on me that the patients in the community I had been caring for just wanted control.’

Humbled to be award finalist

Ms Senah researched different business models from her hospital bed. She left the NHS in 2010 and started her business the following year with just a few carers. Almond Care, based in Nuneaton, now has 100 staff caring for clients across the UK.

She said: ‘I’m so humbled to be a finalist for the award. My near-death experience has actually turned out to be a positive thing for myself and my clients.’


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