Let’s address the elephant in the room
Love the idea of providing support, care and companionship to an elderly person, but not sure you can deal with the personal hygiene tasks? You're not alone.
We speak to many people who love the idea of providing support, care and companionship to an elderly person, but they fear the discomfort with assisting with personal hygiene tasks.
They tell us, “I don’t want to wipe bottoms.”
There we’ve said it!
It’s okay to feel this way. 95% of our Care Professionals who were new to care, had never supported anyone in this way before.
Look at it from the other side, how would you feel if you needed support with intimate personal care. You would want to do as much as you could yourself. The role of the Care
Professional is simply to help our clients achieve that, for example getting them safely settled on the loo and vacating the room to afford them dignity and privacy.
The fact is, the people who can’t perform intimate personal care for themselves, generally don’t approach Home Instead, because our visits are a minimum of 2 hours. Our clients are primarily attracted to Home Instead because of the companionship centred approach and need a variety of support to enable them to remain living in their own homes.
They look forward to telling their amazing stories whilst sharing a cup of tea.
They like planning trips to a garden centre, a stroll in the park or a visit to the hairdresser.
They may need help going shopping, preparing a sandwich for lunch or putting the hoover around.
Whereas care agencies that offer shorter pop in visits can be more appropriate for those who need a couple of visits a day for personal hygiene care to ensure they are comfortable and clean.
If you have a big heart and like spending time with older people, we’d love you to join our team as a Care Professional.
We provide award winning training and a supportive team. We’d never put you in a situation where you felt uncomfortable or unprepared.
Careful matching of Care Professionals with clients allows relationships to blossom and grow. It’s unique and very special.
But we want to be completely honest. We all age, health deteriorates and your client may need more and more support and this could mean that one day they need help with intimate personal care. Usually, by that time the relationship you’ve built is so close that you’d do anything for your client without a second thought.
To find out about joining our team as a Care Professional, please get in touch with Lindsey Blake on 07523 211 720. Or you can call the office on 01737 529793, Mon-Fri 9 am – 5 pm or complete an enquiry form.