Alice was feeling exhausted
Alice* was feeling exhausted managing her own health problems while caring for her dad
After Alice’s mum moved to a care home, her dad, who was in his late eighties and living with Parkinson’s and dementia, couldn’t manage on his own. Alice lived just a few minutes away and stepped up to help him.
I couldn’t cope anymore with always being on hand for dad. I live with ME and was feeling exhausted. I called the Carer Support Line and only wish I had done this sooner. It was amazing to be able to speak freely and honestly about how I was feeling.
Alice is her dad’s main carer, as her brother lives a few hours away and her three grown up children also live further afield. Alice took on a range of tasks including doing her dad’s shopping, taking him to appointments, managing his finances and being on hand whenever he needed something or when things went wrong – such as the boiler breaking down. She was soon feeling exhausted due to her caring responsibilities and managing her own health issues.
Alice arranged for paid carers to provide additional support. This helped but she still needed to be on hand and manage when they would be coming.
Alice was at the doctor’s surgery when she spotted some information about us and saw that we have a Carer Support Line.
Alice had been feeling so exhausted that she was weighing up moving her father to a care home. However, she was finding it difficult to know how to broach this move with him. She called us hoping to get some tips about how best to talk to her dad, to help him feel that he was in control, and to make the transition into a care home as smooth and easy as possible for him.
Alice was so pleased that she got in touch.
Thanks to the team advising me and supporting me, my conversations with my dad about moving to a care home went more smoothly than I could have imagined. Having the support was wonderful. I knew I could call at any time as I went through the process of finding a care home and supporting my dad to move. It’s a huge transition and very emotional, but thanks to Dementia Carers Count, I wasn’t on my own and I knew what I needed to do every step of the way. *Name changed to protect identity
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