“Homeshare has really taken the pressure off our family. Being able to go to Mum’s home and spend quality time with her is so important. Homeshare has changed our lives.”
As Kath’s 90 year old mother’s needs increased due to a fall, the family recognised that a longer-term solution was required to fulfil her desire to remain living in her own home, and relieve the pressure the family were under to provide a presence day and night.
Homeshare has been the perfect solution for both Kath’s mother and family – providing a balance for everyone, and enabling her to stay safely and comfortably at home, in the
place she wants to be.
“My sister worked with a homeshare sharer, and heard about how the organisation worked and the lovely relationship that she’d built with her elderly person. It sounded very positive and we felt it could work for our Mum.
Mum had a series of falls and although she didn’t need care at night, we wanted someone
with her in case she fell again, so we arranged a 24 hour family rota. It worked in the short
term but put a strain on us all. We all have families and are working, and we needed a
longer-term solution.
Mum loved having us staying with her overnight. It was great for her, but challenging for us.
She likes her independence and was adamant that she didn’t want to go into a care home.
It was important for us to respect her wishes, but without putting too much strain on
ourselves – we needed to find a balance.
Share and Care Homeshare seemed like such a good idea. First of all, we were a little
unsure about whether it would work for Mum, but we thought that with the right person, it
could work well.
Share and Care Homeshare were brilliant. We talked about Mum and her needs. Mum has a
carer who comes in four times a day to cover her basic needs, and we wanted to make sure
this continued, so that the role of the sharer was more for reassurance, companionship and
to provide a friendly and helpful presence.
When our sharer was introduced, we felt she was lovely. She’s a gentle, quiet, caring
person, perfect for Mum. Mum is quite self-contained, and her sharer recognises this and
will sit and talk to her if that’s what Mum wants, or equally give her space. Sometimes they
enjoy watching Strictly together!
The sharer works from home sometimes which means she’s able to check in on Mum
regularly, and she’s also been great at making sure Mum eats regularly and healthily.
The two of them have settled into a nice rhythm together. There’s also a good family
presence from our side. We don’t want the sharer to feel she always has to be there for
Mum, we want to ensure that she has time off too.
The fact that the sharer is there overnight is wonderful. Mum fell at night recently and it
was reassuring for both Mum and us that the sharer was there to help. It makes us all feel
more secure.
For me, being able to go to Mum’s home and spend quality time with her without needing
to stay the night, has improved our relationship.
Mum really likes her sharer, she’s lovely and we can’t praise her highly enough. For us, it’s
great to see Mum settled at home and happy. She is exactly where she wants to be and she
can be her best self in the familiar surroundings of her home.
Mum’s sharer feels like part of our family, we are so grateful for the support she gives Mum.
They have a good relationship, and it feels like a really nice environment for Mum in her
final years -she’s 90 years old, and very proud of her age!
Share and Care Homeshare is a great organisation, it’s doing really good work, and Mum is
pleased that she’s gone down this route. I’ve been recommending homeshare to other
people too as it has really changed our lives.
Homeshare has taken the pressure off our family, it has made Mum less dependent on us,
and enabled us to have a better relationship with her as well as enabling us to have our own
separate lives. We all want Mum to have as much enjoyment as possible and enjoy her final
years, and homeshare makes this much more possible.”
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