Kelly and Betty’s Story

Kelly & Betty’s story

“Living with a disability is challenging but with Nayland Care on board, our lives are so much easier and enjoyable. Nayland Care are not just our care team, they are most definitely our friends – a friendship that goes above and beyond our expectations.”

Betty & Kelly

Our disability home care case study begins with two outstanding individuals: Kelly & Betty. Kelly was referred to Nayland Care in August 2018 from Suffolk County Council as a younger adult (under 65) diagnosed with rapid progressive Multiple Sclerosis.  The original support outlined was to provide four short visits a day to assist Kelly with her personal care needs.

In February 2019, Nayland Care’s Managing Director, Yvette, attended a care review with Kelly and Betty to find out how things were going.  Whilst she found that the home care was working well in terms of giving Betty a break from her role as Kelly’s main carer, Yvette couldn’t help but wish there was more Nayland Care could do to support Kelly with her hobbies, interests and aspirations.

Helping Kelly gain more independence

Kelly led a very independent life before her diagnosis; she worked in the local shop and lived in Aldeburgh with her son.  Her diagnosis meant that she had to give up work and move in with Betty. Over time, she became more reliant on her mum to take care of her, which must have been a huge adjustment for them both.

During the review, Yvette asked Kelly if there were any hobbies or interests she would like us to help her be able to do.  Kelly said that she finds swimming very therapeutic as it takes the weight out of her legs (that have been affected by her MS) and she would like to find a way to go swimming regularly, if possible.

Yvette remembers saying:

“If we can find a way to risk assess this appropriately, and we gain the support from the local authority, we’ll try and find a way to make it work”.

Finding a safe way to enable Kelly to swim

Yvette discussed possible solutions with Company Director, Chelsey, to find a way to make it happen for Kelly.  Chelsey agreed to carry out an initial swimming visit and risk assessment to pave the way for a regular carer to take over. Chelsey was able to find a local pool with the right facilities that could accommodate Kelly’s mobility needs effortlessly.

It was a great day when we were able to tell Kelly and Betty that it was possible to regularly take Kelly swimming!

Betty recalls:

“I cannot tell you how ecstatic Kelly was. Kelly often mentions how it has changed her disability for the absolute good.  Swimming trips now take place on a weekly basis all thanks to Yvette and Chelsey for the brilliant idea and making this happen.”

A renewed sense of energy

Chelsey accompanied Kelly with her first visit in April 2019.  Kelly enjoyed swimming at the local Leisure Centre for about half an hour, managing six lengths of the 20m pool.

Having built up an appetite, Kelly and Chelsey ventured to the local garden centre restaurant for some lunch. Kelly talked about how Betty loves gardening and would have been in her element looking at all the lovely flowers starting to bloom.

Once we got back to Kelly’s house, Betty was thrilled with the news that Chelsey could see no issues with this being a regular outing for Kelly. Once the local authority approved the funding, visits started in the Summer.  In addition to the personal care Kelly receives each day, our lovely carer, Jelena, now takes her swimming every week too.

Flexible in our care

Sometimes Kelly fancies a change from swimming, so instead Jelena sometimes accompanies her to the picturesque Thorpeness and sit by the lake. Or sometimes they take a trip into Aldeburgh and get some lunch from the bakery and have an ice cream on the beachfront.

It really is down to Kelly to tell us what she fancies doing but 9 times out of 10 its swimming followed by a good lunch. Kelly is very partial to a Subway and a sweet treat.

Recently, Chelsey had the pleasure of covering Kelly’s swimming visit while Jelena was on holiday. Speaking of the catch-up,

Chelsey says:

“It was lovely to see Kelly again and find out how the swimming trips have been helping her.  I was really pleased to see a huge difference in Kelly’s endurance and fitness since the first visit.  This time she managed 14 lengths of the 20m pool and could have done more but decided she wanted lunch instead. To see the improvement was great and Kelly says she feels the benefit of regular swimming in maintaining optimum mobility on a day-to-day basis.

To be able to measure how her regular trips have contributed to an improvement in her overall health and wellbeing is incredibly gratifying and this really is what person centred care support is all about.

What I really like about supporting Kelly with her swimming is that we do have a laugh too.  Kelly is really personable and has a great sense of humour so it doesn’t feel like going to work at all.   On top of this, the huge sense of reward in making such a positive impact on Kelly’s outcomes makes it all so worthwhile”.

 

To sum up our disability home care case study, and speaking about their appreciation for Nayland Care support, Betty says:

“When Nayland Care came into our lives at the beginning of Kelly’s diagnosis, we were worried about Kelly’s lack of ability to do things for herself but bringing Nayland Care on board is the best move we could ever have made for Kelly.

The care team is paramount to Kelly’s health and wellbeing. With the friendships she has developed with the care team, she looks forward to the daily visits. We cannot express enough how valuable and caring they all are.”