Case Study 3

KP is a lovely lady in her nineties, and we met her at a large residential facility where she fell in love with one of our care partners who was assisting her neighbor.

 

KP asked us if we would be able to have our caregiver visit with her a couple days a week just to give her some additional care. We made arrangements, and we were able to do that and encouraged her and her neighbor to do some outings together.

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KP was fairly healthy in body and mind. She decided she wanted to have us continue to provide assistance. During the week, she would spend some days with her son. Then on weekends or other days when her son was busy, our care partners would come in and spend time with her.

 

She liked having the variety of care partners, so she got used to having different people and she actually enjoyed it because it provided an opportunity for her to meet and speak and share stories with different care partners. So the ones that were long-time Nashville natives would share stories about Nashville, and the ones who were relocated to Nashville would share stories about what it was like to move to Nashville.

 

As things worked out, she continued to progress. Then she moved into a new assisted living facility. We kept the arrangement going down in our 3rd year, where we would come and spend some time with her at the assisted living facility.

 

It developed into the situation where we would help her with her meals, help her with her bathing, and assist her around the house, around the 2 bedroom apartment. Her children became increasingly dependent on us because we were able to do all the personal care and home care that KP needed. This gave them a lot of flexibility in their lives so that they could continue to work and dedicate themselves to their families.

 

As things progressed, Miss KP moved into the nursing home part of the facility, and she kept her friendships. She continued to enjoy having 2 or 3 different care partners because it provided a lot of conversation and outings. It got to the point where she would like us to put her in a wheelchair and take her around the large, beautiful facility, at times stopping at the snack bar, grabbing something to eat, or looking at the greeting cards or visiting the facility library, all these adding to her quality of life.

 

So as it worked out, Miss KP enjoyed having us there for companionship and for personal care and for backup systems to give her family a break when they needed it. And we continued with the 2 or 3 or 4 days a week, and she enjoyed the company. As things happened, she continued to progress, and we continued to be her friends there.

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Anyway, so this is a nice story of providing companionship and friendship to an individual as she aged. We were with her for a period of 4 or 5 years, and, she still enjoys us being there. So, home care sometimes ends with a bit of a tragedy, and at other times, it just allows us to provide companionship and care and personal assistance in a way that is appreciated and really adds to the quality of life.