Is your heating on?

Is your house toasty warm as we head into deeper winter? Who put it on? Did you as the nights got darker, and the days got shorter and that first nip in the air appeared? Are the dials and the buttons on your heating easy to use? Or are they small and fiddly? Is the heating unit in the cellar, or the cupboard under the stairs? Why are we asking?

There are so many things that we take for granted when we are adults, that suddenly when we are old can become a challenge. Arthritic fingers can be swollen and unwieldy rendering small buttons and dials impossible to alter. Want to change the time on your heating? Well, you can’t because the tiny movements required by your finger joints to do this, just aren’t possible. Eyesight too can fade. So, that previously easy-to-read panels are suddenly shrouded in mystery.

And it is not only the physical but the mental acuteness. As we know, reprogramming your heating system can be a challenge to anyone who doesn’t have a master’s degree in engineering! Add a bit of dementia to the mix, and the challenge simply becomes too complicated. A perfect cocktail of old age can conspire against us to render previously simple tasks impossible.

This is why care companions are amazing! Philip Ashwell of Home Care Services says: “Home care is such a vital service. It enables people to continue to live independently, people who would struggle without support, our care companions do a simply incredible job.” Care companions not only deliver personal care, help with the shopping, provide companionship, ensure medications are taken correctly, but they are there. Our care companions can set the heating up at the beginning of the winter, they can check the water temperature on your boiler is correct. They can replace the lightbulb at the top of the stairs, they can retrieve the television remote that has fallen down the back of the sofa. There are countless things that we don’t even think about doing until we can no longer do them. Care companions are literally lifelines to so many people.

The work done by carers up and down the country is incredible. It is the most rewarding sector that you can work in, you do actually make a difference every day, every hour, and every minute of the day. The lady waiting for her care companion because she can’t find her glasses. The man who can’t remember if he has taken his medication. The lady whose family live away who can’t turn her heating on. They are all waiting, waiting for someone to turn up, waiting for someone to care. They are all reliant on their care companion, for sight, for health, and for warmth. The moment their care companion arrives they have made a difference. There are so many opportunities working in care to make a difference, so many incredible touching moments. So, if you care, come and join us at Ashwell Home Care Services.