Celebrating homecare at ENA – Making the ordinary extraordinary

Every day we see and hear about the difference our live-in carers make to the lives of our clients. We are proud to celebrate all achievements in homecare, no matter how big or small, knowing that for the individuals involved these are important moments that help to support the quality of life and wellbeing of both our clients and live-in carers.

With this in mind, we are delighted to be supporting the United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA), of which we are members, and the Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) in their inaugural ‘Celebrating Homecare’ event.

The purpose of this event is to see beyond the traditional perception of homecare as being solely about supporting a person’s health and personal care needs, and showcase all of the amazingly creative, fun and enjoyable moments that carers and their clients share within the person’s own home, collated under the banner of #MadeWithCare.

Read on to find out more about how care at home with ENA is all about the details that make the ordinary extraordinary for our clients and carers.

Why being in your own home is the best place to be creative

There really is no substitute for being able to live in your own home, surrounded by your own possessions and everything that is familiar to you. In this space, most people find that they are at their most comfortable, creative and expressive, and with a live-in carer who is carefully matched to share some of their client’s hobbies and interests, support is on-hand to assist with the many and varied activities that our clients enjoy.

Unlike other more time-constrained forms of care provision, live-in homecare gives our clients and carers the scope to explore the client’s previously or currently enjoyed pastimes, as well as trying new activities. Many of our live-in carers have introduced their clients to new hobbies, foods or experiences, as one of our clients, Stephen Morton, remarked on earlier this year in our blog ‘ENA supports Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day 2021’: “You will have a different relationship with every individual carer, embrace the difference and you may discover a new film, musician or food that you love.”

Home as a place of inspiration

Being supported and cared for at home means a person may well be inspired to participate in artwork or craft projects that will decorate their environment. Sometimes we meet clients who began a painting, handicraft project (like sewing, knitting, quilting or embroidery) or other creative endeavour years previously, perhaps before they had their stroke, spinal injury or developed dementia, and really want to finish it. Being at home means there is the time and space to do that, and one-to-one assistance is available from our live-in carer to support and motivate the person to complete their project.

Home is the ideal place for culinary inspiration too. Favourite recipe books can be pulled out, or recipes can be found online, for sweet or savoury treats that the person may be really keen to make, perhaps because they never have or because they evoke memories of yesteryear. Cooking is one of the most popular activities that our clients and carers participate in. This is partly because it’s a fun and social way to spend time together, but also because meals can be entirely personalised to an individual client’s wishes, eaten at a time that suits them, and the process of cooking can really help to stimulate a flagging appetite by filling a person’s home with delicious aromas of freshly made meals or baking bread or cakes. Read our blog, ‘How our live-in carers can support your nutrition and hydration’, to find out more.

The joy of having an extra pair of hands with homecare

One of the many ways our live-in carers have supported our clients to make things over the years is through being that extra pair of hands when the person’s own hands aren’t working as well as they used to, perhaps because of Parkinson’s symptoms, paralysis, arthritis or other health conditions. Clients who are avid writers can feel very frustrated if they can no longer write or type out words, but with a live-in carer they can dictate them, meaning that a story, poem, letter or other written prose can still be captured. Complex puzzle pieces can be joined with an extra pair of hands to help, small pieces for model-making or craft projects can be slotted together, and the joy of completing something can be celebrated again.

Good for our clients, good for our live-in carers

Live-in care is a partnership between our clients and carers, many of whom become friends. These relationships benefit not only the person who needs care, supporting them comprehensively, holistically and emotionally, but also our live-in carers. Being a live-in carer is an amazingly rewarding career precisely because it allows for relationships to develop, and time to be available to make/do and create so many different things together.

We thank all of our clients for choosing us to be their care partners, and all of our live-in carers for everything they do that is #MadeWithCare.

Find out more about how ENA Care Group could support you or your family by calling 0800 4334 413 or emailing care@ena.co.uk.

To find out more about working for ENA Care Group, please call 01707 383 033 or email recruitment@ena.co.uk.