Hook Home Help is helping different people in different ways

This week I took a lovely lady to visit her brother in a care home. They are both in their nineties and are both doing so well but recently her brother has had some problems and has had to go into a home. She told me about this casually when we were chatting over tea one day. She seemed a bit concerned so I asked if she would like to go and visit him and see how he is. It was quite a way but I assured her that we should go while he was well enough for visitors and that some things shouldn’t be put off. She had a think and booked an afternoon when we were both free.  

We packed the car with some presents for him and her walker and she chatted all the way there. This is the lady who phoned me back in the spring from a care home, planning her escape like it was a prison break! She had to go in for some respite care and was desperate to go home. Now she is back home and delighted to be in her own space but misses some of the friends that she made there. She misses company in general and she likes a chat and a cup of tea. 

The care home was beautiful, it was like a luxury hotel. All the pictures on the walls were old black and white scenes of the old days. We found her brother and I left them to talk. After an hour or so, they came past me and invited me to join them for a bit before it was time to go home. On the way back, the mood was subdued. It had been hard to see him so changed in such a short space of time. The conversation turned to the end of life and what might lie beyond. As always, there is laughter in the darkness and at some point she said thoughtfully, “I don’t think sitting on a cloud would be my cup of tea”!

She talked about how he used to be, how the world used to be and how all the changes are hard. It was quite a long day out and a difficult one. When we got home, I made sure she was settled before I left and she thanked me for taking her and for my company. She felt happier having seen him and for knowing that the place was so nice. Then the next day she sent an email to thank me again. 

She doesn't want to trouble her children who are busy. She doesn’t want to trouble friends. If I hadn't suggested it, she wouldn’t have gone. Now she knows where he is, how he is and she knows that she can go back whenever she wants, with someone she knows to support her. 

Hook Home Help is helping different people in different ways