All downhill from here?

Accepting the need for care when elderly – is it the end of the road, or is there light at the end of the tunnel? By Helen O’Meara of CI Home Care

Many people resist care initially. It’s called ‘care reluctance’ in healthcare parlance. But why? After all it’s supposed to help!

Not every client knows exactly why. Yet many admit that it was true initially! Sometimes it’s resistance to change, or reluctance to allow someone into the home and to help with intimate tasks. But more often it is the fear, whether conscious or not, that accepting care is the beginning of the end.

But is this true?

‘Far from it,’ asserts Nicola Heath, Care Manager at CI Home Care. ‘We often help people whose care needs diminish, or in some cases disappear completely over time. There are some real success stories, even with elderly clients.’

Obviously, nobody can offer an elixir of youth to reverse the ageing process! But good quality care can really make a difference – to both the client and their spouse or family.

Examples abound. There are the obvious ones like recovery after an operation, stroke or heart attack where the right medical help, physical therapies and care in the early stages of recovery can often see someone living independently again within weeks to months. But there are also the less obvious success stories such as the octogenarian who was so stricken with grief after the loss of her husband that she became unable to walk. Several months of daily encouragement and support from a well-matched live-in Carer later, and she had invested in a step counter and was proudly sharing her statistics with all who would listen!

Live-in care can also be a huge success story for a client’s spouse. ‘Knowing that your husband or wife is being well and professionally cared for at home is a huge weight off many people’s shoulders,’ explained Nicola.

‘We have clients for whom live-in care has allowed the elderly spouse to resume hobbies and a social life, or in another case, keep the family business going. And especially, when it is the wife who needs the care, a live-in Carer solves other practical issues like cooking and shopping, for “husbands of a certain age” who’ve never had to do it before!’

Sometimes success may appear relatively smaller, but is no less notable. The client who was completely bedbound for years after a stroke and yet now, after a change of care agency, is enjoying daily showers and accepting offers to go out for a wheelchair walk or to take lunch in the garden. Imagine how that feels both for the client and their spouse. Success indeed!

The variety of success stories in elderly care is huge and is what motivates the best Carers. Results may range from joy at finding a way to help a client with dementia know what day of the week it is, to clients no longer needing us at all. But all success stories matter! With the right care there is light at the end of many tunnels!