Westmorland Homecare help the vulnerable stay connected with friends & family during lockdown

Westmorland Homecare help the vulnerable stay connected with friends & family during lockdown

100-year-old Joan’s face lit up with delight when she first experienced a Facetime call with her son Peter a few weeks ago.

The magic moment happened thanks to Joan’s homecare assistant Georgia, from Westmorland Homecare, who realised how much Joan enjoyed her daily phone conversations with Peter, who lives hundreds of miles away in Dover.

She said: “Joan adores her family and seeing her face light up whenever they call got me thinking. I contacted Peter and arranged a FaceTime call so that they could finally speak face-to-face.”

Being able to see her son as well as hear him made all the difference to Joan.

“When we made the call, Joan couldn’t believe it and was overwhelmed with emotions. Joan said it made her day and both Joan and Peter were so thankful. Peter was especially pleased that he could see his mum was doing so well under our care.

“We now try to FaceTime every week and myself and Peter send pictures back and forth so that Joan feels more connected to her family.

“Joan now has something to look forward to and Peter can show his mum things he never thought he’d be able to.”

Peter was delighted at how using FaceTime with Georgia’s help has transformed the conversations he has with his mum. He phones her every day anyway, and they would have a chat, but once she could see him too, the conversation went to another level.

Whatever Peter is doing when the FaceTime call starts, he can not only tell his mum about it, but he can show her – perhaps taking her on a ‘tour’ of the garden or sharing the view from the house.

For many of us calls like this are part of everyday life, but Joan could never have got to grips with setting up a FaceTime call without Georgia’s intervention.

“It made us feel good because we could see her face light up,” said Peter. “We could tell she was delighted. And we are really pleased because it gives her joy and happiness. It has basically transformed her whole life.”

Thinking of these personal touches to make clients feel good is central to the Westmorland ethos. They pride themselves on making real relationships with clients, which helps them understand what they need, and what would make them happy.

Peter is delighted with all the care his mum has received from Westmorland. He said: “They have been absolutely marvellous. I can’t say enough about how professional they are.”