Hero care home staff are fighting the coronavirus like they are in a 'war zone' and battling mental health struggles like frontline soldiers, a Scots care home boss has said.
Robert Kilgour, the executive chairman of the Renaissance group which operates 15 homes in Scotland with 1,100 staff, said that the pandemic was unlike any situation he had dealt with in his 30 years in the industry.
Care homes have rarely been out of the headlines since the start of the outbreak with numerous outbreaks and thousands of deaths since last March.
Visits have been limited leading to an epidemic of loneliness among the mainly elderly residents.
Robert told the Daily Record staff at the facilities had been 'second to none' with many working extra hours for their 'second family' at the home.
He said: "We recognise the importance of allowing our staff some rest and relaxation as they really have been second to none.
"The mental health of our residents is key and many of the staff see them as a sort of second family.
"But it is also important to think about the staff.
"The adrenaline from being at the frontline has kept many of them going.
"Like being in a plane crash or car crash- they just keep working through and dealing with what is in front of them.
"Sometimes it needs a bit of distance to assess what has happened.
"I would consider it like they have been through a war zone."
But Robert struck a note of hope and said one upside of the pandemic has been the focus on the heroism of day-to-day care staff and medics.
He said: "They have been a sort of Cinderella service for a long time and I would like to think the public are now having a new appreciation for them.
"They have had to deal with a tsunami wave in the last 12 months that anyone would struggle with.
"People and the media are now really seeing the sort of work they do everyday."
All residents of his homes have now received their first coronavirus vaccine and staff are tested for the bug three times a week.
But Robert added: "I don't see the vaccine as a silver bullet... I don't think we will ever return to normal in the same way as before.
"I do see (the vaccine) as an extremely useful tool to have i the pandemic toolbox.
"I can see light at the end of the tunnel about visiting reopening and that would just be fantastic for everyone."
He added that the firm were looking at bringing on a new home near to Trump Turnberry golf course.
Robert joked about the 74-year-old former US president: "We're not planning on offering Donald Trump a place at the care home."
