A FORMER Army officer who was made an MBE for her services to military catering in the field is in line for another very different award.

Ex-Warrant Officer Julie Cooper switched careers six years ago after deciding to put something back into the Pembrokeshire community in which she was born and brought up.

Now she has been shortlisted in the annual Wales Care Awards, organised by Care Forum Wales, which is the main representative body of the care sector in Wales.

She was nominated in the category for Workforce Development, which is sponsored by Edexcel, and the awards will be presented at a glittering ceremony in City Hall, Cardiff, on October 30.

Julie, 47, is a staff development officer with Cartrefi Cymru, which supports people with learning difficulties and other social care needs in 13 of the 22 Welsh counties, and she has special responsibility for health, safety and wellbeing.

She served 22 years in the armed forces and was awarded the MBE in 1998 for her work, especially in Bosnia.

"But I always wanted to come back to Stackpole, where my family still lives and to share my academic and life-skills," she said.

She joined Cartrefi Cymru to help find voluntary and paid employment for the disabled and switched to her current role two years ago. Though appointed to safeguard the company's staff, she has extended her remit to train the people they support, which in turn would give added protection to the staff.

Julie was nominated for the award by regional director Jill Nicholson, who said she had created and adapted training courses to make them more accessible to the service-users, whose confidence had grown as a result.

Julie's positive attitude towards both staff and the people we support, and her inclusive approach to health and safety, has improved the safety of staff while giving the people we support a valued role, and increasing their independence and self-esteem," she said.

"She has played a positive role in helping the company empower the people we support and helping people participate in the company."

As a result, people have started taking responsibility for their own health and safety, asking at meetings whether fire drills were scheduled and who was the designated fire marshal that day. For the benefit of service users, fire evacuation posters use photographs as well as words.

Outside work, Julie, who is based in Cartrefi Cymru's Haverfordwest office, is a committee member of Pembroke Rugby Club and serves on Stackpole Parochial Church Council.

Mario Kreft, the honorary chief executive of Care Forum Wales, said the Wales Care Awards had gone from strength to strength since being established seven years ago.

He said: "The aim is to recognise the unstinting and often remarkable dedication of the unsung heroes and heroines working in the care sector.

"The Wales Care Awards has filled a gap - I think most people know the care sector, but it's taken an annual event for people to see it as it really is.

"The care sector is full of wonderful people because it's not just a job, it's a vocation - the people working in the care sector are just as vocational as any other profession, including the nursing profession.

"If you don't recognise the people who do the caring, you will never provide the standards that people need and you never really going to recognise the value of the people who need the care in society.

"We need to do all we can to raise the profile of the care sector workforce. This is their moment in the sun - and they deserve to be lauded and applauded."