Lynn Roddy set up care company Home Instead for Tavistock and the Tamar Valley five years ago with her small inheritance after her mother died. Her own personal journey of caring for someone with dementia and not being able to find the right sort of care at home for her mother was the trigger. Now she employs around 80 people and her company cares for 100 people.
Lynn has been nominated and won accolades for her business, which has been rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, and her leadership. She is chairman of the Tavistock Dementia Alliance and a co-founder of Cycling Without Age where older people and those with mobility difficulties are taken out around the Meadows in Tavistock on 'trishaw' cycle rides. She is involved in setting up memory cafes, the most recent one in Okehampton, and is always looking to increase services for people with dementia.
A former Army officer of 16 years, who moved to the Tavistock area ten years ago, Lynn is celebrating International Women’s Day today.
‘I wish we did not have to celebrate it but it is important we are as it gives women confidence. Women are amazing in both their working and personal lives but they don’t shout about it enough. They are very shy and retiring about it.'