From ‘End-of-Life’ to a ‘New Beginning’ – Story of our Carer
How our Blue Angels with compassion dramatically transformed the life of a severely ill client.
Gabi Szabo and Gabriela Serban, carers at Blue Angel Care, went to visit a new client at her home. 81-year-old Edith in Upper Bucklebury was suffering from a wide range of health conditions. She struggled mentally and physically to manage on a day-to-day basis.
The story below discovers how Edith and our carers worked together to overcome different challenges like Edith’s health, local authorities, and doctors to give Edith an improved life, or should we say a new beginning?
Read the full story below to find out how ‘End Of life’ turned into a New Beginning’.
Beginning care with Edith
Following an at-home assessment, Gabi and Gabriela received the care plan regarding their new client, Edith. Edith was a delicate client who required meticulous care. With a mild learning disability and her fragile health burdened by kidney and artery diseases, hypertension, and diabetes, she struggled to retain her joy and positivity.
According to the care plan, Gabi and Gabriela visited Edith four times daily and assisted her with moving about, bedding, prepared food for her and provided her with medicine. Along with this, they also tried to encourage her and help her retain as much independence as she could.
Edith was grateful for their help and compassion, and the three got along well cementing a good professional relationship.
However, despite all of their best efforts Edith’s condition, unfortunately, continued to deteriorate. This, sadly, impacted her spirits. She grew disheartened and weaker as a result, and soon, found herself unable to carry on alone.
Crippled by the pain and her dismay, she could not find the strength to continue. Doctors had to examine her health, and while we were all waiting for reassuring news, the doctor’s conclusion was grim.
After examining her condition, the doctors concluded that Edith only had a few weeks left to live. This negative news was followed by her care package being moved to ‘End-of-Life’ care. This meant she would only be supported with strong pain relief and an injection of morphine to ease her pain.
They refused to give up on Edith
Despite the conclusion from the doctors, for Gabi and Gabriela, admitting defeat and giving up on Edith did not seem acceptable and so, they decided to fight and continued to offer Edith the care she needed.
However, their struggle continued to care for Edith continued and the most damaging blows came in terms of nutrition as she could ingest little more than water. Additionally, her depression affected her appetite as she began refusing to eat or drink.
What followed was a challenging battle against all odds. The care givers worked very hard and communicated with the professionals including palliative care nurses, nutritionists, her doctor, and social workers to find the best way to bring her the strength she needed at that crucial time.
There were times where the company had to battle with health care professionals to continue to provide our services. Due to the budget constraints, there were plans to transfer the services to other, ‘cheaper’ providers. Our company’s senior office staff and the care givers could not accept that as that would mean all the struggle and all the hard work will have been for nothing.
We and one of her neighbors, Carol, helped us to achieve this. Carol was deeply concerned about Edith’s wellbeing and was as determined as us to give her a fighting chance. She did her best to convince the local authority to leave the care package with Blue Angel Care, vouching for our quality of services and our commitment to care for her.
For ‘Mum and Dad’ – the care journey
They continued to offer her the care and assistance as she required.
They washed her body and tried to encourage her to be more active, as her abilities allowed.
When it came to eating, the care givers provided food, such as fruit, and they mashed the fruits into a paste so Edith could ingest it, as she would with water or a liquid.
Despite her abysmal health state and her mild learning disability, Edith could still nonetheless be lucid and fully conscious of her surroundings. She knew and saw how hard the care givers worked in their attempt to help her and prolong her life as much as possible, and she was grateful and inspired by them. She regularly referred to them as “Mum and Dad” with genuine affection as she felt they cared for her just like parents would for their child.
In fact, when Edith would refuse to eat, the carers encouraged her with “Do it for Mum and Dad” – and she would respond by eating.
After lots of work and dedication, progress was finally visible. It was slow, but it was steady and positive. Edith began to feel livelier and she found strength once again to overcome the pain. Thanks to her care givers’ compassion and dedication in helping her improve, she even began to speak more and move a little. Gabi and Gabriela were ecstatic knowing that, indeed, there was now a fighting chance.
The ‘New Edith’
We are happy to inform you that Edith still enjoys the company of her care givers, Gabi and Gabriela.
She recently came along to one of our client’s forums and enjoyed the company of ‘Mum and Dad’. She enjoyed going out, meeting other clients, and our fantastic staff while having a cup of tea and cake!
They were with her throughout her struggle, not even thinking of giving up. This determination and compassion to care has helped them to achieve what had been considered almost impossible.
Today Edith still benefits from the services of Blue Angel Care and the visits of her care givers. She is now healthier and much more positive and happier than she was at the start. Additionally, we have shifted her from ‘end of life’ program to ‘domiciliary care’ support.
It is no mystery that this was possible thanks solely to Gabi and Gabriela, and the supportive neighbor, Carol.
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