Nursing care

Bill was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease six years ago; his loving devoted wife, Mary (pictured), has been his full time carer for all of this time.

In June 2020, Bill was admitted to Burton Queens Hospital and
then transferred to Derby; he was there for five weeks before returning home with Mary in July 2020. Bill worked hard with the physiotherapist, but due to medication complications, unfortunately, Bill had a relapse and was re-admitted to Derby Royal Hospital in September 2020. The relapse affected Bill considerably, and he was very poorly; the hospital even at one point discussed residential care for Bill as his needs had become far greater than they felt Mary could manage.

As Bill’s condition got progressively worse, Mary reluctantly accepted that she needed support with Bill, and this is where Helping Hands stepped in. In April 2021, Helping Hands went out to see Mary and Bill and agreed on a care package. With the support of Helping Hands and Mary, Bill is now mobilising much better and is now looking at increasing the care from one call a day, to two. Mary and Bill have forged a strong bond with the carers, particularly Hayley, who has been with them both from the beginning and has seen the fantastic progress Bill has made.

Janet has dementia, and so requires support with personal care needs, but she also likes some companionship where she enjoys doing puzzles and going for walks in her beautiful garden. Since February of this year, Ashleigh, a carer from the Wantage branch, has been caring for Janet. Ashleigh is one of Janet’s favourite carers, and they both enjoy spending time together, which is always full of laughter.

During one of the sunny days in April, Ashleigh took Janet out for a lovely walk in her garden and Janet’s son could see how much fun they were having and asked if he could capture the moment for Janet.