One day earlier this year one of my clients called me on a Tuesday morning. I had been going in to see her twice a week for over two years. We would email each other between visits with any information that seemed important, and sometimes to say, “Remind me to tell you what happened today because it will make you laugh!”.

She loved the seaside so whenever I went to the sea, I would take her a photo or a video. She had been housebound for many years but she used to go and visit the seaside via a CCTV link that apparently anyone can access to look at Sidmouth beach. She would tell me about the waves and the people as if she had been there in person. I knew she was lonely and wouldn’t be seeing anyone over the weekend so sometimes when I was in Southsea, I just sent the photo from the sea with a little message so she knew we were thinking of her and she had some contact with the outside world.

And so we plodded on, but she never ever phoned so when she did my heart leapt. We knew she was poorly but things had got worse and she told me that the surgery had called her an ambulance. She sounded shocked and not sure what to do so I said, “Would you like me to come and help pack a bag?”, and she did so I went straight over.

“My mum lives in a care home and Penny has kindly worked with me to arrange for weekly 1:1 private helpers to spend time with her. The helpers engage mum in activities, take her out, do jigsaws with her and share a coffee and a chat. She has dementia and is very deaf, so having this 1:1 time with wonderful helpers each week is very valuable. I also really appreciate the feedback that I get each week, about how she is and what she enjoyed doing. Thank you so much to Penny, Jan and Amy. “ 

This is a lovely review from a rather different client. I never thought we would be going into care homes but the management at The Old Raven have been very kind to allow us in and to have some time with this lady. Each week we send her daughter a little report on how she is doing, sometimes with a photo. Jan takes her some flowers so they can arrange them together and so she has fresh flowers in her room every week. She tells her daughter about the visits and she calls Jan “The Flower Lady”. 

In the university holidays, Hook Home Help teams up with Mikey B Supppport Services to offer services that require engineering skills such as, in this case, using boiling water to make the hose pliable enough to attach to the tap to enable the jet washing.

I could have done the jet washing myself but I could not have jumped over that fence twenty times, (or even one time), and melted a hose to make it work. One of us has a calm and rational approach to problem solving and it is definitely him rather than me.

We are so lucky to have Emily on the team, even if it is just for a short time while she is looking for a new job. I have known Emily for a good few years and we have been coaching the Hook Runners morning training sessions together for over 3 years. 

Usually she is busy juggling being a mummy and a senior data technology leader, however due to a recent redundancy, she has joined the team to help some people in the community while she has some free time available.

This is a very special client. We have been on many trips together over the past few months and I have become very fond of her. We first met when she had fallen over and I was called in to make her lunch and let her daughter know how she was doing. For the first few days we were getting to know each other and the new system but soon she was chatting away and telling me about the whole family and a lifetime of adventures. 

Last week I had a message that started something like, "I am looking after my grandmother and wonder if you could help", which is a very normal text for me but then it turned out that the grandmother was in hospital and they needed help looking after the cat. In the interests of client confidentiality, this photo is not the client, it is my cat who is at least ten years younger and very much dafter and once had a phase where she only wanted to sit in this plastic bowl, until she grew out of it.

The Client Cat was also slightly eccentric with a tendency to violence if approached incorrectly. The granddaughter asked warily, "Do you know about cats?". Oh yes, I certainly do. By following the instructions we got along very well. The humans left a 5 star review and so did the cat because after a few days of me announcing that dinner was served and asking if he wanted any contact, and getting a resounding "No", on the last day he came over to me for some head rubs.

That was one job with many happy customers.

Look who I met today! I was supporting a client at one of the retirement flats in Hook and I met a gentleman taking his tortoise for a walk. The tortoise was having lunch outside and enjoying a bit of a stroll and a sunbathe. I stopped to say hello and found out that he is 56 years old. His owner had inherited him from his mum who had owned him from when he was little. The owner didn't seem much older than his tortoise.

I love tortoises. I feel grateful today for the sunshine and my new tortoise friend.

Hook Home Help is a small team of women helping people in and around Hook, Odiham and Hartley Wintney and Rotherwick. Home help can involve anything that isn't personal or medical care. It might be folding the washing, changing the sheets, helping with admin, cleaning, shopping, anything that makes life easier

Happy Easter to everyone who follows Hook Home Help. Today our hearts are warmed by the client who gave her helper an Easter egg for her little boy - who she has never met but just heard about! How sweet is this?!

They have only known each other for a month and they aleady have a special little friendship.

Hook Home Help is all about finding the right helper to look after the right person so that friendships can form and trust can be built. We are there to do the small jobs at first and then as the relationship builds we are there to listen when sad things happen and we are there to help when things get tough.

This week one of our other helpers went in to do some basic jobs and found that the gentleman had fallen that morning and was a bit shaken up. She was there to make tea and lunch and we told his daughter so that she could pop in later on.

Often in life the small things are the big things and we are there to help with both.

Hook Home Help is a small team of women helping people in and around Hook, Odiham and Hartley Wintney and Rotherwick. Contact me if you would like to know about what we do

This is just one of the loveliest things to happen to me lately. One of our clients’ daughters contacted me early one Monday morning to say that her dad needed an emergency dentist appointment and she didn’t have time to sort it out so could I take over and get the appointment and get him there, so I did.

Hook Home Help is helping people in different ways. Last week one of our helpers, Amy, was asked to help sort out an airing cupboard. She said she worked on it with the client and they were really laughing together about how to sort out the chaos, and the question we always ask ourselves - how to fold a fitted sheet? 

Do you know what a Deep Vein Thrombosis is? I think we all have a vague idea that it is a blood clot that you can get from not moving. We might know this is why people wear compression socks on long flights but I, for one, certainly didn’t know anything else until recently. 

In the past couple of months I have had two clients suffer from a DVT. I thought a blood clot would be a small thing that you couldn’t really see and would kill you instantly - this is not the case. Both clients had one leg swell up to twice the size of the other one! The leg was hot and painful and the skin was flaky. It hurt to move and they had to use crutches all the time.

One of my ladies has really suffered with this and it hurt my heart to see her in so much pain. It helps if you can keep moving, but it hurts to move. Someone who had been so independent and so active was suddenly completely unable to move. 

March is DVT awareness month and I thought it would be useful to share this information.

Part of my vision for Hook Home Help is to be able to support older people who need some practical assistance, but also to provide flexible part time work which is rewarding and where people feel valued and appreciated for what they do. We always give our clients the whole hour, and often more. We are forming firm friendships and valuable relationships. One of my clients said quietly today, “Wednesday is my favourite day of the week, I don’t know what I would do without you”.

This week I will be giving a talk about mindfulness to the residents of The Signals in Hook. Mindfulness can help us feel better mentally and physically and sleep better. Small changes can make a big different in how we think and feel which is what Hook Home Help is all about. Sometimes we are giving lifts, making tea and changing sheets. This week we were trying to help people to feel happier in other ways.

Hook Home Help is a small team of ladies helping people in Hook, Odiham, Rotherwick, Greywell and Hartley Wintney

Mindfulness can help to decrease anxiety, depression and stress and will also improve sleep and general enjoyment of life. This can be particularly useful to older people who are often worried about their own health issues and those of family and friends. 

Mindfulness can help to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, improve memory and focus and help us to deal with the strong emotions that come with the changes of aging and with bereavement. It can help us to allow ourselves to rest, to find some calm and feel happier.