Home Care:

I can’t cope
If you have been the main carer of perhaps one of your parents or grandparents, there is a time when even the most capable can begin to feel overwhelmed.
Reluctantly you feel yourself acquiescing to the idea of someone else taking on the increasingly exhausting needs, which up until now you have done because you love them and want to look after them.
Everyone of us has probably said or thought they never want to be in a nursing home one day. Can it be delayed for your relative?
Yellow Door Care has some fantastic options if you are in need of the extra supports and time out you need to lighten the load enough to keep your parent at home. Did you know it can be just a one off day? It can be a couple of hours each morning, helping with showers and medications. It can be a regular day or it can be just at night. If full time nursing care is required, this is also possible.

Short term assistance
I was recently involved in looking after a lovely lady for a couple of hours each morning for Meg. I helped her with showering, medications, put the washing on, swept the floors, walked her dog and made her a cup of tea. A few other things were attended to in those 2 hours together and that was all she needed. It was a relief to her family that she was being looked after and when she was fit again, the contract was completed. This is just an example of short term assistance which is available.

Regular nursing support
Relatives often find themselves performing nursing duties they were not trained or prepared for, simply because there is no other choice. Ensuring medications are given, skin care for slow healing wounds, hygiene care, assessing for dementia and patient safety, ensuring a safe and clean environment or nutritional status are needs that can be supported by a visiting nurse.
Specific protocols and medical orders can be implemented while keeping a person in their own home environment, which means they sleep better and do not develop disorientation from being placed in an unfamiliar place.

Guilt and worry
When a role reversal occurs, one in which you are now making the decisions and guiding your parent because they just can’t do it anymore, it is almost inevitably accompanied by some form of guilt or worry. Having someone available to talk to about the choices, to provide emotional support and practical hands-on care can make all the difference. It means your parent may well be able to stay at home for a longer period of time than you thought.
There is no longer any need to feel guilty or to worry as much because the family feels supported in their desire to provide the best for their parent or grandparent.

Nursing Home or nursed at home
Yellow Door Care is uniquely able to assist with all aspects of nursing care at home, and then if it turns out that home is no longer the best or safest option, they can assist with the transition. Once in a nursing home situation, in some circumstances they are also able to provide nursing assistance for outings, providing possibilities for a relative to participate in family events that they may not have been able to without it.
Being able to tailor nursing care to every individual person’s requirements, from simply helping around the house, to complex nursing care is what sets Yellow Door Care apart.

If you are feeling unable to shoulder the responsibilities any longer, or are just simply in need of respite, there are many possibilites for assistance available. Ring Meg or Chris to further discuss your own situation and see what can be arranged. You don’t have to carry the load on your own.

Erica Fotineas
April 2017