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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-05-02, Page 10PA9E 10•—GODI RICH SIGNAL -STAR. THURSDAY, MAY 2,-1974 Patients are happy nqels of BY JEFF SEDDON An angel of mercy is a hard thing° to come by in this day and age btrt there are still a good ncnnnber of them left. The Huron County Home Care has several of them on their rosters. The Home Care scheme was initiated to keep -people Out of expensive and much needed hospital keds and in the com- fort of their own homes. where they are generally much hap- pier. To accomplish this task they have obtained ,the ;services of several home makers, an.oc- cupational therapist, several John Westd'ott comforts improvement 'as a result of his therapy Fawcett was very wary of therapy. thinking re -injure her ankle. (staff photo) Miss. Fawcett as she shows him her program • Miss shelAi'ould only tl ercy make home c VON nurses and a physiotherapist. These people are the "angels of mercy" for many people, restricted to their homes due to illness In an effort to get a first `band irnpt`ession of their work I accompanied the workers to mseveral homes they visit in the . course of their hectic schedule. First thing in the morning I met •Ianet Bradley; a , VON nurse, and joined her ffor several calls she had" to make before leaving for Exeter. The first stop was at' Mrs. Fisher's, where Mrs. Bradley had tu, change' .a "dressing. L'ast summer Mrs. Fisher suf- fered from an abscess in her side caui;ed by diabetes. Lan- cing was requfred, in order to cleanse,..AT poison from the area, which meant. a long healing. period. Last October the VON nurses started changing the dressing for Mrs. Fisher and helping her '• to understand her ailment and cope with ojt. They have taught her hciw to give herself in.jec- tiOns. how to maintain her diet-, which she must follow rigidly, 'and they,.helped., her to under- stand the disease so that she could put her mind at ease. "I can't say enough for these •girls" said Mu. Fisher. "They come in here to helppme and they do a wonderful job. As far as I'm ,concerned they are as. good as any nurse that looked like to have them • home," he ° after me. while .1, was •in the _ said. hospital. I have nicknames for '- In the afternoon I met with - ,them• alt,, Janet here is my �.. 'John Westcott, the physio 'Foster ,Daughter'. They all therapist, and accompanied come in, the house a,nd .do their him on a few of his calls. John job. They never comment on my house or my furniture, they never complain about how 1I live, I they just smile about. say 'hello and start to work. I like to consider them all my friends."" " • • Mrs. Fisher feels that co- ' 'operation with the nurse is the best method of making life for Both of them a little easier. "When the:girls come in I she said. "It was a shock to me ' 'and cook 'a meal and eat with like tit have the water already when I realized 'the number of, them, said Mrs. Currie. boiled s.o they can sterilize their . things.' wouldn't be able to do .Just before we left Miss equipment faster. If they're ,, because of my cast. Mrs. Currie, Fawcett, she showed , her ap- stuck for lunch or laie j have , showed me how to. get around preciation for the 'Home Care there for coffee and a snpk," and made scare I did all my workers. - she said. exercises. Today she did my , "John gave me the courage to After coffee and 4 chat Mrs' shopping for me and she is do the things I didn't think 1 Bradley and `I set off to Mrs. gding to stay and cook supper would be able to;do and Mrs. Swan's for another dressing for us." Currie Dept my confidence up change. Mrs, 'Swan underwent Mrs. Currie pointed out .that ' between his visits,'A,' she said. surgery a year ago last Decem- - her joh is not only doing the ;The last patient for the day"' ber , and, is still getting the housework and the shopping „ was back in ' Goderich. Mrs. dressing changed on the for the patients. Johnson suffered from' a stroke' wound. ' - • "Every patient is' different. and lost rfiobility'in her right While I was waiting for Ma's,. Some people I1 have to explain side. She is now on the long Bradl`e'y tc complete the change the diet they have ,to go''on, road back to recovery and' is I asked Mrs. Swan's grandson's- others have to have their receiving help from the wife what she thought the • medication explained to,,them° ° workers. She has a homemaker' home -care. program meant to and some need help in their in four hours a day during the the family. s therapy program,'; she noted. ' meek to,,help her with the more "Gramma is in a friendly at-. - In the household end of her strenuous chutes in, keeping a mosphe're.with all the comforts job Mrs. Currie 'h'as had many "house.'" and lots of love which is very varied responsibilities. She- When she was first` "good fort -her," was her reply, spends a • maximum of eight from the. hospital .John Mrs. Swan feels that the•o'nly hours in each house in a given cr.tt was in to visit way she would go back to the day. She has had responsibility hospital is on a stretcher. of a family while the mother is The next and final call for in the hospital. She has helped the. morning was at Mrs O'D- the nurse bathe people who wver's This was only the can't get in and out of .a second time,the nurse had been, bathtub on their own,; One to see Mrs. O'Dwyer since her woman was ordered not to lift. release from the hospital. Mr. anything- - heavy and Mrs. *Dwyer com6rented on thea Currie . stayed' wifh her' in the VON'service and what it meant daytime just to pick up her leased est- er to his wife. '1 think it's Jnarvellous for the patient. People are better off at home with their own. They respond far better than in the hospital and the -doctors Th? final touch is put on Mrs. Fisher's bandage before the equipment is cleaned and prepared for the• next patient Mrs. Bradley has to see. (siaff photo) ` ro , regularly to help her get ba on her feet. She feels that ,th Horne Care program has been veru beneficial to her. Her progress has been excellent and much of the credit she feels should go to her . first homemaker, Mrs. Nelson, .who encouraged her to complete all her exercises every day without youtg baby for her, , fail., t1 re work homemaker's arm.' The two make frequent trips to ° shop which Mrs. Johnson may not have been able to do without her help. - The friendship is ,also ob- vious between - Mrs._ Johnson and - the Home Care workers. She constantly refers to her homemaker as Faye. and • likes x to joke ,with John Westcott throughout the call. �, Mrs. Johnson summed up her relationship with the' -Home Care workers in one sentence. "They are as much a friend as they area helper and I enjoy their company on just a social call as well as an official," she said: John Westc•dt't"feels that he . Its. Johnson also received Could not do his work' effec- sonne therapy from the c c- tively without the.homemakers' cupa,tional therapist who works help.'Some of the patients don't with the• Horne Care, She aTso respcind to their husband„ or didn't, realize the number of wife helping them, with, their things that she was so used to exercising and it 'takes an out- doing and could no longer do. sider to make them do it. For instance 7 peeling potatoes. The saddest part ,of: Mrs. Although, she is left-handed, Currie's job is that the patients the still had to learn to peel who live alone are so lonesome them• with one hand and the'oc- cupational therapist showed her how. • When she walks about the house Mrs. Johnson uses a cane but when - she goes to The Square she hangs on to her is from Stratford but he works. - and need her just for coin- panionship. "Some of my 'patients are so lonely they don't want to bother cooking a hot meal for themselves .and' I visit them with the Home Care every af- ternoon attending to patients in Huron County.' He really enjoys hisgwork in the prograrri. He meets many people and over the period of their recuperation - usually becomes good friends with them. All his patients call him_ .John and make jokes •about his Scottish background and ac- cent. We left the Clinton office. for Biyth to visit Miss Fawcett who s,is •taking therapy for a broken ankle. She is an elderly woman and was very nervous abq t'ih- juring her anklew'hen''she star- ted her therapy program, Thlr first thing John asks is how. Miss 'Fawcett feels and how she is making out with her •, therapy. This concern for the patient • is the basis for ,the friendship and confidence the Homs' Care workers instill in their patients. When we arrived at .Miss Fawcett's, the homemaker who helps the pati' nts adjust to living with their inj,nrv; or illness and , keeps them 'following the doctor's orders, was in to visit. Mrs': Currie is currently calling in at Miss Fawcett's to help her with the wash, help her make the bed and to cook, her some hot meals. She also makes sure the patient exercises regularly ac- cording to the therapist's or- ders. , • "Without Mrs. Currie I don't think I would have been able to do all the things the doctor told. me I would have to when' 1 came'home from the hospital", A quick check 4 quick check of Mrs. Fisher's pulse assures -VON nurse Janet Bradley that everything is going along smoothly. (staff photo) A large number of ill people restricted to' their homes are familiar with the sight of Mrs. Bradley coming up their walk. She averages anywhere from four to eight calls a day." - �•. �.♦`+�rrti'.r rr°er°+s'r-ry ..,.'. .f'•.�,. rr-rra r +• a +yr ,v *,♦ r♦ ° •�,• ♦w .. r.+r-rte 'rrr�,ar^,rr, rr-rr�rrr ♦. ���er ��r��•�Y ��r�ri'.°A finishes adjusting the bandage making her a little more comforts friend and to Miss Fawcett, Currie- on Mrs. ' Fawcett's ankle Comfortable. Mrs. Currie is both of- fering both help -and love. (staff photo) , A little help and a friendly smile frbrn John Westcott en- courages Mrs. Johnson to keep up her exercising so she cdn become more independent. (staff photo) Occupational Therapi•.st Mrs. Joy Daymond teaches Mrs. Marjorie Harrison how to maneuver' in the kitchen after - Mrs. Harrrison lost her mobility as a result of a stroke she • suffered last September. Many'patients underthe same cir- cumstances as Mrs. Harrison, have tQ be taught to dress themselves etc. on the ling road to rehabilitation- (staff photo) Youth -in -Action seek employment , It is expected that over 60 projects- from various com- munities in Southwestern Oh- tario will receive financial assistance under the Provincial. Government's Youth -in -Action program. The Youth -in -Action program is aimed at meeting employment needs of young people in the province through ,the development of useful com-'' munity recreation project's, This year, . four Youth -in - Action Co-ordinators have been hired to give assistance to the many projects that will be ap- proved on May 3, 1974. Information on the Youth -in - Action program can be ob- tained from co-ordinators, Jeff Such, Clare Moffatt, Glen Tschirhart and Bill Squirrel. The Sports and Recreation 'Bureau is allotting $145,000.00 for nrojects in the South- western Region (13 counties 'running from Tober'mory to Windsor and as far east as the easterly boundary of Wellington County). The maximum grant available is $5,000.00 per project. The hope of the Sports and Recreation Bureau is that the community co -sponsoring body will take an increasing in- terest in the program and take full sponsorship after' a 3 year period. • The Youth -in -Action program is part .of the Provin- cial Government's extensive employment program called \ Ontario Summer Experience '74. Past experience has shown that due to, the limited amount of money available, not all prgiects will receive financial assistance.