“It’s about providing emotional support and companionship to help people through this”

Staff at a South Lakeland homecare company have been going the extra mile to look after clients and bring a smile to their faces during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kendal-based Westmorland Homecare provides hundreds of hours of care each week, which enable elderly and often frail people to live independently in their own home.

Its services include home care, such as help with housekeeping and meal preparation, and personal care, such as help with dressing, bathing and getting in and out of bed.

The company was founded in 2017 by Doctors Josh Macaulay and Chris Moss. Both had experience of caring for people in their NHS roles as an A&E doctor and anaesthetist but wanted to help people more than while they were just in hospital. The service is now one of the biggest providers of homecare in Cumbria.

Dr Macauley explained that the coronavirus pandemic had created many challenges, such as the need to source extra PPE, including face masks, gloves, aprons and goggles.

“On a day-to-day basis one of the challenges for our staff is that a lot more emotional support is needed,” he said. “We are having to try to explain things for clients and their families as people are seeing us as the experts. They ask us about PPE, how to stop infection and what they should do if someone develops symptoms.

“A lot of people out there are scared and those with dementia or who are confused don’t understand about social distancing. And having someone arrive in PPE is quite disconcerting.

“So it’s about providing that emotional support and companionship to help people through this.”

He was full of praise for the way staff had managed during the pandemic. “They have come into their own and risen to the challenge really well,” he said.

“It is as scary for them as it is for the clients. They have put themselves on the line and taken the risk to go out and deliver the services because they really care about the people we are looking after and they want to make sure they feel safe and healthy.

“They have shown they can do great things and keep the community together.”

The company’s 105 staff in the South Lakes area include 90 health care assistants. All are committed to helping its 200 clients.

Sarah Thompson described how she recently put in an extra call to a client because she was frightened and tearful when she left her at 5.30pm. “So, despite the fact that I was due back at 9pm, I popped in with some sweets for her in my own time at 8pm.”

Claire Stevens said: “It’s a scary time at the moment for us and our clients and we have been doing extra calls to some clients to do shopping and calls to make sure they are having evening meals, because friends and family can’t go into their homes.

“On some of my calls if I have the time I will do extra jobs because some of my clients had cleaners coming in who can no longer do so. It could be changing the bed, hoovering and making sure their home is clean.”

Health care assistant Jayne showed a client how to use WhatsApp so she could see and talk to her family here and daughter, who lives abroad.

Ann Holmes baked a birthday cake for a client on her day off because he could not get to the shops to buy one.

And Isabelle Bromley made Easter cakes and treats with her son and delivered them to clients across the community during care calls.

Westmorland Homecare delivered 150 Easter eggs, donated by supermarket Booths, to clients as a surprise gift. “We knew it would be a nice thing to do but we were blown away by how much difference it made to the clients,” said Dr Macauley.

“It helped them to connect with the outside world and realise people were still thinking about them.”

Westmorland Homecare is asking people to design and write postcards or do a painting with a positive message that can be given to a client. These can be posted to 18 Highgate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4SX.

Dr Macauley said the company was also asking people to donate any spare plant pots, which would be planted with a sunflower and given to each member of staff and each client.

“It’s a way to engage with the community and to bring a bit of joy and brightness into their lives,” said Dr Macauley. “These small things can really lift people.”