Home care can help people emerge from cocooning as restrictions lift

A number of measures aimed at helping older people emerge from cocooning are due to take effect on June 8th. These measures will provide for greater freedom when shopping, and allow older people to entertain guests in their own homes, though restrictions will apply.

“This is a very welcome date for older people who have endured loneliness and isolation in the past few months,” says Michael Wright, director of Public Affairs at Home Instead Senior Care Ireland.

“Older people have essentially volunteered to stay away from their sons, daughters, grandchildren and other people they love, for the greater good of public health. Such action however is not without consequence.

“The ESRI reported on May 22nd of a sharp fall in attendances to Ireland’s emergency department, perhaps due to people’s fear of Covid-19. The Government says it will mount a communication plan to encourage people to present for care when they need it, within its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business.”

Mark Sweeney, managing director of Fit for Life, says: “We are concerned with the level of de-conditioning of older people living in the community who have postponed their normal exercise practices such as walking, or taking part in an exercise groups, and the consequences this has for falls and injury.”

“While society remains disrupted by Covid-19, it is important to understand what options people have to remain fit, well and safe in their own home,” says Michael Wright.

All our caregivers are well-trained in infection control, as part of their normal training

Home Instead has been assisting cocooning older people since the crisis began, by managing shopping for daily essentials, providing personal care, helping with infection control in the house, preparing nutritious meals, and crucially, providing companionship and joy at a time that older people need it most. The home care company has also made significant changes to its operations since the pandemic began, to ensure its clients and staff are protected from the disease.

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“Client safety, and client trust, is paramount to us, and we appreciate the trust that our clients have put in our company. We have taken every possible measure to ensure that our caregivers have access to the latest training programmes.

“Our Home Instead Senior Care Academy has created bespoke, Covid-19-related updates to ensure caregivers have the confidence to carry out their job in a hugely changed environment, including one where the wearing of PPE is now the norm. All healthcare workers in the world have faced perhaps the most difficult time in their professional careers, and this is no different for our own caregivers,” says Michael.

“All our caregivers are well-trained in infection control, as part of their normal training. We believe that home is the safest place to receive care, and this is borne out by the fact that Home and Community Care Ireland, the representative body for private home care providers, has reported just 100 home care recipients with Covid-19 out of 20,000. We are immensely proud of the role our caregivers have played in keeping home safe for our clients.”

Confidence to re-engage

As June 8th draws near, Home Instead’s caregivers are looking forward to continuing their work with clients as they reemerge into a changed society, but one which has some semblance of the normal they knew last February.

“Many older people have not even been to the shops since mid-March, and while they’ll be allowed to do so once more, at restricted times, the environment they’ll enter will be different,” says Michael.

“Having a Home Instead caregiver to accompany them will allow them to re-engage in an activity that has changed in a matter of weeks, with confidence from the reassuring presence of their caregiver. Our caregivers can also recreate activities that once happened at day care or respite in the home, ensuring our clients reduce risks to their health.

“Similarly, many older people have not been able to have visits from their grandchildren. We all remember the images in the papers of children visiting elderly relatives and speaking with them through panes of glass.

“Again, we can help our clients to prepare the house for a limited number of visitors, ensure that the correct precautions are in place, ensure that everyone has access to masks and gloves as per the requirements, and then sanitise the house after the visit,” says Michael.