HighLIGHT
The Newsletter of Primary Homecare
Client Edition
Issue: 38
March 2017
Inside this issue:
Happy Easter
1
Easter is a Christian festival which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The Bible says Christ died on the cross on Good Friday and
came back to life three days later.
When returning
home from
hospital
2
Easter is on different dates each year, between 21 March and 25 April,
depending on when there's a full moon in spring.
Baylham and
Barham Care
2
This year Easter Sunday will be taking place on April 16th.
There are some unusual modern traditions associated with it.
What a carer will 3
do in an
4
A lot of us may chomp on chocolate eggs at Easter, but originally eating
eggs was not allowed by the church during the week leading up to
Easter (known as Holy Week). So any eggs laid that week were saved
and decorated to make them 'Holy Week eggs', then given to children
as gifts. Victorians adapted the tradition with satin covered cardboard
eggs filled with Easter gifts.
Time of visits
The first chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany in the 19th
century but were bitter and hard. As chocolate-making techniques
improved, hollow eggs like the ones we have today were developed.
They very quickly became popular and remain popular today.
Gardeners
Corner
6
Wordsearch
7
FACT
7
Medication
Instructions
8
This Month’s
Recipe
8
Poetry Street
9
What's going on
in Apr 17
9
Mission
10
Additional
11
The story of the Easter Bunny is thought to have become common in
the 19th century. Rabbits usually give birth to a big litter of babies
(called kittens), so they became a symbol of new life. Legend has it that
the Easter bunny lays, decorates and hides eggs as they are also a
symbol of new life. He doesn't do all the work alone though. In
Switzerland, Easter eggs are delivered by a cuckoo, and by a fox in parts
of Germany.
REMEMBER!
CLOCKS GO
FORWARD ON
MARCH 26TH!
Information found on BBC Newsround
Unforgettable: 5
Staying Out of
Hospital When
You Have
Dementia
Information
Issue 38
Page 2
When returning home from Hospital……….
Please be aware that if you are a client through Social Services and you are admitted to
hospital, we must have confirmation from the Hospital team first, before restarting your
care.
We are not allowed to take confirmation from ANYONE but the Hospital team or Social Services team at Customer First.
There has been some recent confusion from clients and/or clients Next of Kin regarding this. Although this may seem long winded, Primary Homecare has to follow this procedure so that all clients receive care when returning home from hospital.
Saving the out of hours emergency phone number for Primary Homecare is advised if
yourself or a service user is admitted to hospital so we are aware.
Area Co-ordinators…..
If you need to speak to a
Co-ordinator about your care, here is
a list of areas each Co-ordinator
covers so you can speak directly to
the Co-ordinator for your area.
Nicola Cook— Claydon &
Barham, Great Blakenham, Baylham,
Needham Market, Stowmarket.
Ipswich (including Chantry, Gainsborough, Rushmere St Andrew, Whitehouse, Whitton) Bramford, Sproughton.
Sophie Mundy— Felixstowe,
Walton, Trimley St Mary and
Trimley St Martin.
Toni Drury– Assessment
Coordinator
Baylham and Barham Care Centres
Bookings can still be placed for permanent care,
respite care and day care.
Come and visit Baylham Care Centre’s day
centre, day care starts at 10.30am - 3.30pm
including lunch
If your family are going on holiday Baylham
Care Centre can accommodate your needs with
short term respite or even a holiday break.
There is a designated room at Baylham Care
Centre just for respite and holiday periods. You
will need to book in advance to make sure that
the dates you require are available.
For more information please call Baylham Care
Centre on 01473 830267 or Barham Care
Centre on 01473 830247
Issue 38
Page 3
What a carer will do in an emergency…………
If a carer finds a client on the floor, it is company policy that they follow
this procedure.
1. Call 999
2. Call the office or out of hours
The office or out of hours will then contact the clients Next of Kin.
The same procedure will be followed if there are any medication errors or
concerns.
If anyone would like to discuss this further please contact the office.
Please allow time for your carer to arrive.
Unfortunately we cannot predict the weather, traffic
or if there is an emergency at another client.Your
carer will do their best to get to you when expected
but if they are running late they can call the office or
out of hours who can then inform you of this. We
rely on the carers to do this, otherwise we cannot let anyone know
of the change of the visit time.
If a carer goes off sick at short notice, we will do our very best to
get another carer out to you as soon as we can but may not be
able to inform you.
If you wish to cancel a visit or are going away on holiday/ respite
please let the office know as soon as possible.
Any visits that are not cancelled with 24 hours notice will still be
charged.
Issue 38
Page 4
Times of visits
Just a reminder of Primary Homecare’s care visit times:
•
Morning visits are between 7am- 11.00am
•
Lunch visits are between 11.45am- 2.30pm
•
Tea visits are between 3.30pm - 6pm
•
Evening visits are between 6pm - 10pm
If you have an appointment i.e. Doctors, hospital, dentist and
need a specific time, please call the office as soon as possible
for this to be arranged.
We do try to keep visits at a regular time every day but as you can
appreciate due to staff sickness and staff holiday this cannot always happen.
If you have still not received a visit before 10.30am for morning visits, 2pm for lunch visits,
5.30pm for tea visits and 9.30pm for evening visits please call the office or On-call so we can let
you know what time the carer will be arriving.
As you know we send out weekly timesheets, please be aware that these times are
just GUIDELINES for your visits. The carers may arrive earlier or later than scheduled, if this does happen please do not turn them away or make them wait as they
do have other clients to visit.
The office is open Monday - Friday from 9am - 5pm and you can contact us on 01473 833533.
The On-call Emergency Phone is on from 7am -9am and 5pm - 10 pm Monday to Friday and
7am - 10pm Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays.
Please remember this is for emergencies only and anything other than an emergency can be dealt with at the office.
The number to contact is 07793 487443 The On-call team also work out in the community so may be working when you have tried to call. If there is no answer please
leave a message and a member of the On-call team will get back to you as soon as
possible.
If you feel that you or a family member needs extra time during their visits, needs an extra visit
during the day or would like to permanently cancel visits (unless you are privately funded) please
call Customer First on 0808 800 4005. Unfortunately Primary Homecare can not arrange any
extra funding for Social Services funded packages.
If you would like to have an extra visit or cleaning, shopping, laundry, gardening,
accompanying, sit-in services, reablement services, sleep in and waking nights,
please call the office so we can arrange this and inform you of prices.
Issue 38
Page 5
Staying Out of Hospital When You Have Dementia
No one wants to be admitted to hospital. But if you have dementia, a hospital stay isn’t only distressing, it can also lead to a rapid decline in overall health and wellbeing.
Recent research commissioned by Unforgettable* reveals a distinct deterioration in the physical
and mental health of a person with dementia both during and after a hospital admission. If you’re
currently caring for a loved one, we doubt this comes as much of a surprise. After all, an unfamiliar hospital environment is likely to cause acute anxiety, and could lead to depression and withdrawal. Then there are physical discomforts; painful hospital procedures, new drug treatments
with potential side effects, the risks of infections, bedsores and falls. There’s a lot of great work
happening in hospitals to help people with dementia and their carers. However, the NHS is facing
the toughest challenges it’s ever had, and staff are under an enormous amount of pressure. Even
if you have a brilliant local hospital, most people agree that preventing a hospital admission is better than needing one.
So is there anything you can do to prevent your loved one needing to go to hospital?
The good news is that yes, there often is. Unforgettable’s research reveals that many of the reasons people with dementia are admitted to hospital are surprisingly similar; pneumonia, urinary
tract infections, aggression, falls and malnutrition are most prevalent and could often be avoided
by fairly simple changes in lifestyle. For example, if they’re already eating healthily and drinking
frequently, they’re less likely to suffer from a UTI or malnutrition.
If you’ve already improved safety in their home, they’re less likely to fall or have an accident, and
if they feel understood, they’re less likely to become aggressive. In fact, none of these conditions
generally need complex, medical intervention or invasive surgery. Instead, simply knowing what
to look out for, and then taking a few preventative measures, could make a great deal of difference. Remember, forewarned is forearmed.
Unforgettable has compiled an eBook so that you have all the information you need at your fingertips. Chapter by chapter they reveal the most likely reasons why your loved one might be admitted to hospital, and explain how you might prevent it happening. Prevention often simply
means being able to identify the problem earlier so that it can be managed at home. A urinary
tract infection, for example, can often be treated with a course of antibiotics if it’s spotted soon
enough—so can pneumonia if you know the symptoms and contact your GP quickly.
Most importantly, Unforgettable hopes this guide will help you keep your loved one safe and
healthy and at home, so that your dementia journey can be that little bit easier to cope with.
This is the introduction from the eBook that you can get free online at unforgettable.org,
along with other useful services; including a catalogue full of products, tips and services that help
people with dementia do the things we take for granted.
Issue 38
Page 6
Gardeners corner
The March flower is Daffodil.
The daffodil, also known as Jonquil or Narcissus, is often recognized as a
yellow flower but other colour varieties are white and orange. It is a
widely cultivated ornamental plant with clustered flowers and a trumpet
shaped central crown. This fragrant flower is native to southern Europe.
Romans, who brought daffodils to Britain, believed the sap of the flower
had healing powers
Christians have adopted the daffodil as a symbol of Easter as it was
believed that the flower first bloomed during the time of Christ’s Resurrection. The legend says it was in the
Garden of Gethsemane during the actual time of The Last Supper which symbolized great sorrow and hope
for much better things to follow.
In Germany the flower is known as Ostergloken or ‘Easter bells’ and in England they are known as Lent Lillies
where Prince Charles receives a single daffodil annually as a tradition. It is considered a rent payment for the
unattended lands located in the Isles of Scilly.
The daffodil is also a symbolic flower for Wales while the national emblem is the Leek. In Welsh ‘cenhinen’ is
leek and daffodil is ‘cenhinen pedr’ or Peter’s leek. Over time both were confused which is why each have
been known as the official flower of that country.
It was believed that bad luck would occur if a single daffodil was taken into a home and the best way to avoid
such misfortune was to give a full bouquet as a present and the household would be filled with good luck.
The April flower is Sweet Pea.
The sweet pea appears in a wide range of pastel colours and also blooms in
two-tone varieties and symbolizes blissful pleasure, delicate pleasure, departure or good-bye, which explains the message “Thank You For A Lovely
Time” attached to the flower.
Keats, the poet, apparently first used the name sweet pea and they became
so popular in the 1800s that they were the designated floral symbol for
Edwardian England.
Henry Eckford, a Scottish nurseryman, is credited with cross breeding and developing the sweet pea into the
floral sensation of the Victorian era. Prior to that it was considered mostly a rather insignificant flower.
In 1901 another new form of sweet pea was discovered in the Earl of Spencer gardens. They were soon identified as the ‘Spencer’ and were different from other varieties in that they had much larger ruffled upper petals, longer lower petals and blossoms that were much more brighter.
These were developed into what eventually became Eckford’s most famous variety of sweet pea, the Countess Spencer.
Before his death in 1906, Eckford was presented with the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour for his work with
the sweet pea.
Sweet peas are available in over 250 different varieties and there is a wide range of pastel and bi-colour
choices available.
The Latin ‘lathyrus odoratus,’ which means ‘pea’ and ‘fragrant’ is how the sweet pea was named.
Sweet peas are typically grown in gardens and are a great addition to one as they are easy to grow and look
beautiful. As the plant likes to climb, and will grow to a height of about six feet, consideration will be needed
as to where to place it in your garden.
Otherwise, it blooms annually and has a sweet fragrance.
Issue 38
Page 7
Easter Wordsearch
Here is a small list of some winter flowers, can
you find them all?
BASKET
BUNNY
CHOCOLATE
CROSS
EASTER
EGGS
GOOD FRIDAY
HUNT
JESUS
RESURRECTION
Fires & Carers Together
We work in partnership with Suffolk Fire & Rescue to keep those that we care for safe in the event of a
fire.
We provide information to the fire service to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, the crew are
aware that there may be a vulnerable person involved and are more sensitive to your needs, getting you
out safely.
Our partnership with the fire service also means we can arrange for a Community Fire Security Officer to
come to your home and run through a Safer Home Check
•
Go to www.suffolkfamilycarers.org
•
Click on the “Adult Carers” Icon on the homepage
•
Scroll down to the “Fires & Carers Together (FACT)” section
•
Click the link “this FACT registration form”
•
Complete form
In the section filling details about your ‘family carer’, insert either the details of a family member, a
family friend, a live-in carer or insert ‘care of Primary Homecare’ using the Primary Homecare office
address and telephone
number.
•
•
If you require any assistance with completing the form please get in contact with the office.
Issue 38
Page 8
Medication Instructions
All medication must be in an authorised Blister Pack
from the pharmacy.
Carers are NOT allowed to prompt or administer any
medication unless in blister packs or the original
packaging that has been clearly marked by a
pharmacist.
Antibiotics must also be in either an authorised Blister
Pack or the original packaging that has been clearly marked by a pharmacist.
Your pharmacy will be able to do this for you.
If your medication changes please report it to the office or out of hours as soon as
possible so we can update your care plan and make the carers aware of a change.
Please make it easier for everybody by knowing when and who will be delivering
medication, so that no medication is missed. This can then be added to the care plan.
This Month’s Recipe is…
Buttermilk Hot Cross Buns
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 Minutes
Makes 18 Buns
Ingredients
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
120ml water
7g dried active yeast
235ml buttermilk, room temperature
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonte of soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
75g cooking margarine, melted
400g plain flour
100g sultanas
Prepared vanilla icing for the crosses
Method
1. Measure the water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let stand about 5 minutes to
dissolve the yeast. Stir in the buttermilk, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and cooking margarine. Mix in 100g of flour until well blended, then stir in the sultanas. Gradually mix in the remaining
flour until the bread dough is stiff enough to take out of the bowl and knead on a floured surface.
Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to coat and
cover with a clean drying cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 18 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and
place on a greased baking tray or baking dish. Cover loosely with a clean drying cloth and allow to rise
again for about 45 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C / Gas 5. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20
minutes. Remove from tray and set on a wire cooling rack.
4. Place vanilla icing into a small pastry bag or clear sandwich bag. Snip off the corner and squeeze out icing to make the shape of the cross on top of the buns.
Issue 38
Page 9
Poetry Street
It Must Be Spring
By May Fenn, June 2014
Hush, Can you hear it?
The rustling in the grass,
Bringing you the welcome news
Winter's day is past.
Soft, Can you feel it?
The warm caressing breeze,
Telling you the sticky buds
Are bursting on the trees.
Look, Can you see them?
The primrose in the lane,
Now you must believe it Spring is here again.
What's going on in April 2017
The Good Old Music Hall Days—6th April at 2.30pm.
Sit back and revel in the cream of variety entertainers from around the
globe as Master of Ceremonies Mr. Leo Shavers brings back. ‘A whole
afternoon of entertainment’ Over 60 years ago the Good Old Days was
first shown on the BBC to a TV audience of around 10 million viewers.
Re-live the jewels of light entertainment and the gems of variety for a
dazzling display of talent at the Spa Pavilion Felixstowe, which
hosted its very own Music Hall back in the day. This performance
includes all of the elements of traditional music hall, with music, comedy
and illusions from a variety of talented performers.
Tickets £17.00 Adult / £14.50 Concessions. The Ticket price
above includes all ticketing and money handling fees.
Stowmarket Annual Model Railway Exhibition—23rd April at 10.30am.
John Dutfield Model Railways shall be hosting the Annual Model Railway Exhibition
at the Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre on Gainsborough Road in Stowmarket.
There will be a wide range of layouts and trade stands from 10.30am to 5pm.
Admissions are not available currently but will be updated on their website as soon
as possible. www.stowrailclub.org.uk
Issue 38
Page 10
Mission Statement
Home and family are the most important things in life. Living in one
surrounded by the other gives us all great comfort.
Primary Homecare aims to provide high quality personal and
domestic assistance to enable people to remain in their own
homes for as long as they wish in order to live as comfortable
and independent a life as is possible whilst providing value for
money.
Primary Homecare also aims to provide a service, which as far
as possible meets individual needs and which takes full account of,
and is sensitive to race, religion, cultural background and sexual
identity of individuals.
In order to fulfill these aims, we will provide a flexible service which
responds quickly to individual needs in full consultation with the
service user, his or her family/friends and other relevant partners
to ensure a service which is fully integrated with the wider network of support available to that service user.
Primary Homecare also aims to maintain the high standards of service by ensuring that all members of staff are fully checked through
the Disclosure and Barring Service and trained to the standards
laid down in legislation.
Useful Numbers
Action on Elder Abuse: 0808 8088141
AGA Mobility: 01449 720809
Age UK: 01473 351234
Alzheimer's Society (East Suffolk): 01473 237301
Contact us
Primary Homecare
Lower Farm Park
Norwich Road
Barham
Ipswich
IP6 0NU
Arthritis Care : 0808 800 4050
Care Quality Commission : 03000 616161
Cruse Bereavement Support: 0808 808 1677
Customer First (Social Services) : 0808 800 4005
Dementia Intensive Support Team (DIST): 07852769172
DLF (Disabled Living Foundation) : 0300 999 0004
Phone: 01473 833533
Fax: 01473 833830
On-call: 07793 487443
E-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Felgains Care and Mobility: 01473 741144
Independent Age: 0800 319 6789
Ipswich Hospital: 01473 712233
Medequip: 01473 351805
Website:
www.primaryhomecare.co.uk
Mind: 0300 123 3393
Oakhouse Foods: 0333 370 6700
Parkinson's Disease Society: 0808 800 0303
Sensing change: 01473 260030
St Elizabeth Hospice OneCall Advice Line: 0800 5670111
St Clements Hospital: 01473 329000
Stroke Association: 0303 3033 100
Suffolk Care Line: 0845 600 7724
Suffolk Constabulary: 01473 613500
Suffolk Dementia helpline: 08081 688000
Suffolk Family Carers: 01473 835477
Total Voice Suffolk: 01473 857631
Victim Support: 0808 1689111
West Suffolk Hospital: 01284 713000