"Not Just a Carer"

For far too long the care sector has been far too undervalued and staff could be heard describing themselves as “just a carer”.

A new campaign “Not Just a Carer” has been created by Home Instead to dispel this myth and shine the spotlight on real life stories from real live people that clearly demonstrate the amazing set of skills and knowledge and commitment staff put in every single day to transforming the lives of the people they support.

The Campaign could be seen across TV, print, broadcast and social media and tells the stories of Care Professionals from across the North West who use their ingenuity, compassion and creativity to help their clients live better. We are so proud of them and how they strive to change people’s lives.

One of the key characters is a lady living with dementia called ‘Beryl’. A source of great anxiety to Beryl is the rooms in her home appear to “change places”, so when she thinks she is going into the kitchen she finds herself in the garden; this is very troubling and causes her a lot of anxiety. In order to help Beryl find her way around and feel ‘Home again’ her Care Professional takes pictures of each room and sticks them on the outside of the doors, this helps to ground Beryl back into her surroundings.

Another story follows ‘Eddie’ , an older gentleman who has lost a sense of his own dignity and so has stopped washing, shaving and changing his clothes. This has tended to make him feel worse as people avoid him, however Eddie’s Care Professional comes in and encourages him to think more of himself by giving him a “makeover”. Eddie starts to feel his old self again and is keen to get out and about.

Although the campaign is a fabulous way of showcasing the amazing work that carers across a wide range of organisations do. We hear stories like this on a daily basis, of the ingenuity, motivation and passion to find ways or removing an obstacle, or solving a problem, which will is ultimately helping our clients to continue being who they are, living lives that have a purpose in the place they are most comfortable and want to stay in.