Why is Compassionate care the Best Care?

What does compassionate care mean to VANS?

It means we support our angels after a client passes, we support the client’s family members, and we also enable our angels to attend the client’s funeral. We put each individual comment from the carers on a sympathy card even if it takes two cards to enable all carers to comment. Compassion is remembering and respecting the life of a client as a team and celebrating what we did for them.

VANS definition of Compassionate Care

Compassionate care is a way of delivering care with empathy, respect, and dignity, recognising, and responding to people’s emotions and suffering, and forming relationships with Clients based on empathy. Compassionate care is also called “intelligent kindness” and is an important part of how people perceive their care.

As a service we believe that Compassionate Care is fundamental to make us different, we support our carers in any way possible as well as our clients and their loved ones. Our ability to be Compassionate related back to our Core Value ‘family’ here at Visiting Angels,

• Family: We know that asking someone give so much of themselves to caring is a big ask. We support our team when they are working and reward them for the joy that they deliver. We laugh together, share stories, and listen. Our home carers are more than a team, they are more significant, they are much more like family.
• Relationships: Relationships take time, friendships don’t happen quickly, and care shouldn’t be rushed or irregular. We offer choice of home carer to the families who we work with. By rewarding the loyalty of our carers and paying them well we hope to ensure that caregiver and client can form a lasting relationship.
• Nimble: Reacting swiftly to the specific needs of our clients and their families is part of our DNA. Every person will have individual needs and their circumstances are always unique. We always listen, consider, and react quickly, tailoring their home care to suit.
• Freedom: Quality care should enable freedom. The time to share stories, the support to live as you wish and the help that comes from an unrushed caring professional. Age should not limit life and the right care should adapt to the needs of the client. We want our clients to feel empowered to live.

 

So how are we Compassionate?

Here at VANS, we Motivate our Angels through the tough times, even if its something as little as helping them get the courage to drive through a big puddle in the road, were always on the other end of the phone or in the office to help 24/7.

We are Sensitive towards situations, we pay attention and notice when our Angels need help, we don’t just turn a blind eye, we offer to help in any way we can, even if it’s being their shoulder to cry on when they feel like they have no one else to turn to. We can liaise with specialist health professionals to get equipment in place and to work alongside any health strategy.

We are Sympathetic, which is an important factor for compassionate care to succeed.  For example we have some clients who are at the final stages of their lives.  We pride ourselves in dignified care and we try to make clients final weeks as comfortable as we can by respecting their final wishes.  We respect those wishes and those of their families.  Whether it be simple things like wash the dishes or clean the kitchen for them so they are able to spend more quality time with their loved one. We always send a sympathy card to the family of a client who has passed, or even if a family member of our client has passed as we believe in respecting the life of Our Clients. On top of this, if it is the wish of the client and their family, we enable our caregivers to attend clients funerals.

As a service we are emotionally aware to challenging circumstances we adapt to good days and bad days, this is another factor in what makes us different.  Supporting families of clients is often a big factor – having a loved one who is being cared for often isn’t always easy.  Our presence for an hour or more is than the care for the client it’s the reassurance and the downtime it affords for the family.  The role of caring  is not easy we are carer centric this recognizing that carers need down time and not to be overworked, we want our Angels to be the best we can be, to be energized to be that support we need them mentally and physically to be present.

 

Does that sound like care you would like to receive for yourself or a loved one?

Or, Could you be an Angel?

If so….

Please Contact:

Phone: 01691 888558

Email: NorthShropshire@visiting-angels.co.uk

 

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