Kara service - Fiona's case study
Fiona works for East Kent Mencap and has helped to introduce the Kara Carephone to their members, which has proven to be invaluable to many.
However, Fiona's story is about her own family and how the Carephone helped them keep in touch at a very challenging time.
My mother-in-law suffers with Alzheimer's and my father-in-law has been her primary carer for about 18 months. During the pandemic, her condition deteriorated somewhat and this had an impact on my father-in-law of course.
We started to see his health deteriorate; he found it more difficult to carry out day-to-day tasks as he always had done. He'd fallen a couple of times when getting out of bed and was becoming more frail. My husband and I moved in with them to support their needs, however we were both also working full time jobs.
When dad seemed to be getting stronger we moved back home and after a long discussion about their decline, and their isolation, I did a referral for a KARA Carephone for mum.
As mum cannot remember how to use a standard phone, the Carephone became a lifeline for her. She could communicate with the family and keep her independence. Both mum and dad felt the Carephone was the best invention ever! We can also use the Carephone to prompt their bed time medication, which has worked really well.
When dad suffered a fall in the middle of the night and could not move, mum managed to follow his instruction to ‘press Fiona's face’ so we could get them the help they needed. Sadly, they have had to use this more than once but at least they are able to use it!
If the Carephone hadn’t been there for mum to call us dad would either not be with us, or in a far worse medical state than he is.
Fiona