Getting out and about is one thing we often take for granted, be it heading off to the local shop because we’ve run out of milk, taking the family on a day trip to the seaside, or just doing the school run.
We often think of skipping these simple tasks due to weather restrictions. If it’s raining heavily, we may think of taking the car to the shops instead of walking or foregoing that morning cuppa until the rain has stopped so we can go out to get the milk.
Only when something happens and we are unable to do what we want, when we want to, do we sit back and realise we take our freedom of mobility for granted. When the car goes wrong and we are left without one for some time, we realise just how much we’ve come to rely on it – I know we certainly notice when we’ve been without ours for any amount of time. It makes school runs and clubs far harder, and we need it to get to work.
A sad fact of life is often the older we get, the less mobile we become. Just like cars, our bodies suffer from wear and tear and sadly don’t always work as they once did and having that freedom you once had taken away through no fault of your own can be heart-breaking.
For almost 5 years now, I have been helping a local elderly lady, Jennifer, with some of the tasks she can no longer do for herself. It’s a job that I really enjoy. She has now become part of our family and I look forward to the time we spend together weekly.
Jennifer lives close by and is partially sighted and has problems with both her hips and her back. Due to this she is now unsteady on her feet and housebound. It is very hard to see someone you care about loose their independence little by little, not that she would let anything get in her way and slow her down!
With the use of some home aids, such as her rollators and wheeled walkers, she can still get around her home quite easily and is able to make her own meals, and insists on making me a cup of tea when I go in to do her washing for her and help out with some of the cleaning jobs such as the hoovering.
Companies such as Complete Care Shop really help to give back independence to their customers, and they’ve been supplying daily living aids since 2007.
CCS work hard to supply customers with the daily living aids and mobility equipment they need to live more independently for longer. With a range of over 5,000 products, they have something for everyone to help make daily life that little bit easier.
They also have access to a network of experienced Occupational Therapists, providing a wealth of guidance and support on the Complete Care Shop site.
As well as helping Jennifer in her home, I also regularly take her in my car to Sainsbury’s so she can choose her own shopping, which, let’s face it, it’s always nicer to pick your own fruit and veg if you have the chance to, and you can ensure longer dates on the food than getting a home delivery. It is also a way for her to get out of the house to see people, and a simple shop can often take twice as long as she loves to chat to anyone she meets, whether she knows them or not. Lightweight wheelchairs are perfect for these trips and hers fits easily into my car.
We make sure to head to the library whilst we are out, as she loves to read. Of course, now she is partially sighted, this can be hard to do, but she now has a new love of audiobooks, which solves this problem, and the library has a huge choice available for her to borrow.
The time I spend with my now friend each week is such a joy, and seeing the smile on her face just to be out of the house makes me so happy. I can’t wait to deliver her Christmas present with the boys over the weekend and to enjoy a mince pie or two with her.
“This post is in conjunction with Complete Care Shop, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.”
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