Domiciliary Care Plus activity:
At KASE Care it is not only about meeting the physical needs of a service user, but also about the emotional and mental needs of our service users. So, because of that, Domiciliary Care Plus (Dom Care Plus) was created.
Recognising the mental health impact that this injury had on SU-A and his wife we were able to support him through our domiciliary Plus service.
SU-A’s activity:
After getting to know SU-A and his background, he has always led an active life, he was a Leader of a Boys Brigade, going camping, climbing, etc.
Because of his previous active lifestyle, we asked if he would be comfortable and happy doing something similar, he was very keen with the idea but wasn’t sure what we would offer him, due to his limitations.
KASE Care located a company called Lambourne End – Outdoor Activity center, not only did the offer similar activities that he used to do when leading the boys brigade, but they offered wheelchair accessible activities such as Abseiling, ziplining and archery.
We offered the opportunity for SU-A to do the above wheelchair accessible activities, and he grabbed at the chance to do the zipline and archery, both things he’d done previously.
KASE Care arranged and paid for his transport from Hertfordshire to Chigwell and back, as well as all the activities. Dom Care Plus is about taking a more holistic approach to delivering care for our clients which also involves the wider mental health impacts linked to their conditions.
The day:
SU-A and his wife arrived in a wheelchair accessible taxi at Lambourne End, excited about the day ahead of him. He was met by the practice manager from KASE Care and the managing directors, Kim and Sandeep Gakhal, we all then met up with Andrew and Dave who were SU-A’s supporters for the day, talking to him about the activities, we made our way to archery, where he said, “this will be the first time doing this in a wheelchair, although I’ve done archery many times so it will be interesting to see the difference”.
It took him a couple of times to get use to the new positining, but he soon got to grips with doing archery again and beat our practice manager hands down.
What was nice, was his wife came along and she also participated in the activity, and she beat everyone!
When asked how he enjoyed it, he said that he had a really good time and that he was worried beforehand, but there was nothing to be scared off.
The second activity of the day was Zipline, once the intricate manoeuvre of getting harnessed up was done we had an opportunity to chat. SU-A was asked how he was feeling and was he enjoying his day. His response was priceless, he said, “I’m having a great time, it’s so good to get out of the house and do something normal”.
It was great to see SU-A zip down the wire, with thumbs up, when at the bottom, he was asked if he would like another go, to which he said “YES”. He was escorted to the top, once again he came zipping down the wire. It was great.
When back at the top he looked euphoric, when asked how was his day, he said “Fantastic” and that “He had a really great time and first the first time in a long time, really enjoyed himself” he really appreciated the opportunity, Dave and Andrew were great in supporting SU-A with his needs and said if he wanted to, he could come down on a regular basis and volunteer, the activity centre was accessible for wheelchair users and that they had other wheelchair volunteers who came done once a month just to enjoy themselves and meet other people.
Just before leaving, SU-A said “I don’t get to say this a lot, but thank you, today has been really special, it’s a day I’m going to remember for a long time”
Why:
Although we provide domiciliary care to meet SU-A’s physical and personal care; it was very important to us that we support him equally with his mental health and emotional well-being, and demonstrate he can partake in activities, and hopefully improve his outlook on life.
