“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years"

Time is a powerful thing, that we often feel rules our lives. It is something that many a writer, poet scholar and politician have written about. When we are young, we often wish for time to speed up, so that we can get older and do the things that we want to do. When we then grow older, we often spend time wishing time would slow down or freeze altogether. We see how precious time is and the importance of the little moments. It is in these moments of joy, fun, laughter, hope and comfort that we then look back on in moments of need, sadness, nostalgia, and reflection.

It is often due to our awareness of how quickly time can move, that we find ourselves reflecting on the past. Our childhood, our school years, our friends and family, the good times and the bad. Even as I write, I find myself marvelling at the fact it is already April when it only seems a few weeks since we celebrated the New Year. As we get older, and our loved ones get older, our awareness of time can become more prevalent. We can become more aware of the time we have left. It is in those moments that some find themselves saying ‘I am going to make good use of the time I have left’. Death, sadly, is something that awaits us all. However, if we use the time, we have left in this world to create memories, and treasure that time then we can say it is time well spent.

Spending our time well can simply mean doing what you enjoy most, and doing what you want to do. It could be to take a daily walk to see your favourite flowers, or visiting friends, or even having your traditional cup of tea in your dressing gown looking at the birds in the garden. What you may enjoy could be seeing family in the week, enjoying a nice slice of cake for pudding every day, attending social groups, or simply enjoying a good book in the quiet of your own home. As long as it is what makes you happy- that is all that matters.

At Home Instead Northampton, we value what you want and what you love. These things are part of who you are, and it is an essential part of our process to discover this information so that we can fully get to know you. This is so that when we create a Care Plan for our clients, we know what is important to them. If it is important to you, it is important to us and we will support you to achieve whatever it is- if this is wearing a lipstick to match your outfit, or to wear your wedding ring on a necklace every day then our Care Professionals will ensure this happens.

At Home Instead value and understand the importance of time. From the very first moment we meet our clients we give all our client’s the time they need. The time during their first consultation to ask any and every question they need, to make sure that Home Instead is a good fit for them.  Then during their assessment, we ensure our clients are given all the time they need to tell us who they are and about everything they wish to achieve, what is important to them. This will not only allow us to create a custom Care Plan so that we can give all our client’s the best support. All of this also means that we can match the best Care Professionals with our clients, so that they may have some common interests or background, that will enable our Care Professionals to build a relationship with their clients.

As we begin to care for our Clients, our Care Professionals then ensure that all clients are given the time they need during their care visits. All our care visits are a minimum of an hour, this allows our Care Professionals to fully support their clients and enables them to achieve their goals. This may be something as routine as supporting a client to have a shower everyday where a decline in their mobility now means they can’t fully do this on their own anymore. It could also mean that the Care Professional has time to make a heart meal, whether it be a cooked breakfast, a light lunch, or a home cooked dinner. In addition, all of Care Professionals have Business Insurance on their vehicles, so they can also support their clients in taking them out and accessing the wider community. Hence, our Care Professionals will work with their clients, to plan how they want to spend their time and if that means going shopping or for a walk supporting them to do this.

Most importantly, our Care Professionals will always have the time to care. They will always have the time to talk and get to know their clients. To build a relationship and build trust. This relationship then means we can support our clients even more. It will be then that our Care Professionals may notice the little signs and signals where further support may be needed. At Home Instead, we stay in touch with all our clients and make regular contact to ensure they are receiving the support and care that they want. We ensure that every client is given the time to discuss what is and may not be working so that we can work with them to make each moment count.

Time is a funny thing, and we can sometimes find that it slips away from us. We can sometimes struggle to hold on to a memory, or a memory can become fuzzy. Other times, memories that you thought were long forgotten can come to you in a flash and bring some of the biggest smiles. At Home Instead, we understand this, and our Care Professionals love to talk to their clients about their lives and treasured memories. Where there is time, they love to look at photos and photo albums where precious moments have often been captured. As much as looking and recalling the past is important, our Care Professionals also love to support our clients to create new memories. This sometimes is by helping them to achieve a goal, to prepare for a family event or occasion. It could be by taking them to a social group where memories are made with friends. A moment well spent could be something as simple as singing a client’s favourite song with them or dancing around with them.

It is important when time can seem so fragile to love your life the way that you want to. At Home Instead we promote independent living and encourage our clients to live the life they want. To support them to remain living in their homes, to be safe, healthy, happy and feel supported and cared for. That for us, is time well spent.