Community Care Magazine for Elderly and Disabled: GAZETTE No.28
Welcome to our new logo. This is now the official logo of the company and is being used on all our literature and documentation from next month. Is Care in Crisis? As we mentioned in the last Gazette The National Minimum Standards for Domiciliary Care have been published and will be implemented in April. We have examined them and do not envisage that we will have too many problems in complying with the Standards. The policies and procedures we already have in place are sufficient, with perhaps some minor adjustments in some areas. Consequently, the cost of care for approximately 85% of our clients will not dramatically change as a result. However, where we are the employer of our Carers, as we are with some of our Local Authority contracts, the costs will change significantly. This will affect about 15% of our clients. For example, the Regulations require us to carry out a significantly increased number of monitoring visits to our carers. (i.e. visiting every carer on placement at least every three months). The consequences of this requirement alone, is that we would have to employ at least four more people on a full-time basis visiting and monitoring carers. Other Care companies who operate totally on an employed basis have an onerous task to actually stay in business, in the light of these Standards. In the last four weeks we know of two companies who have sold out to other care companies, another one who is restricting the services they provide and two others who have decided not to continue in business. Care homes are continuing to close, and waiting lists are getting longer. The cost of residential care is increasing as care home owners are compelled to comply with their own National Care Standards. We do not have any answers, does anyone? A Better Deal for Disabled Motorists The Motability financing scheme has been changed and now offers more generous terms. If you are a driver who already has a lease car, you will now be able to travel an extra 2000 miles without any financial penalty. If you are a person who is just getting your new contract you will be able to travel an additional 9,000 miles over a three year period. A wider choice of hire purchase deals will now be available to you and the option to buy your lease car after the lease deal has finished. For further details telephone Motability 01279 635666 for details. The Time of Year for Spring Cleaning? The following are tips we have gleaned from various sources and are reproducing them here in order to make the process of spring cleaning less arduous! Don’t wash windows when the sun is shining directly on them. The cleaning solution will dry too fast and streak. Make your own glass cleaning solution by using two tablespoons of washing soda and 3 cups of water. To clean the handset of your telephone we read that some experts recommend using alcohol and cotton wool. You can also use a disinfectant spray like Lysol but make sure you let it evaporate for 30 seconds before using the phone. If your paths and patios have grass and weeds flourishing then pour vinegar onto the affected areas. This will kill the grass and weeds and is safer and cheaper than using proprietary weed killers. If you have a room which smells of cigarette smoke try placing a few pieces of charcoal in saucers around the room. Replace regularly. To remove the smell of smoke from upholstery sprinkle baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) over the furniture. Leave for a few hours and then vacuum off. The soda should not mark your furniture (if in doubt try on a discreet area) and will absorb the smell. To give your dishwasher a spring clean in order to get rid of hard water deposits, place a bowel of vinegar on the top shelf and run a normal wash cycle. For a general de-odorising cleaner for kitchen and bathroom surfaces dissolve 4 tablespoons of baking soda in a quart of warm water. You can also use this with a mop to clean your floors. After using a mop at any time always put in a place where it can dry quickly, preferably outside. Germs grow quickly in a damp mop. The sweet smelling end of this item is based on lavender. Fleas hate lavender and a few drops of lavender oil sprinkled around your pets area will reduce the chance of your pet getting fleas. Moths also hate the smell. So regularly place a few drops of lavender on a piece of cotton wool, tie cotton round and hang in your wardrobe or place in your draws where you store your clothes. Clinical Waste Clinical waste, e.g. incontinence pads, should not be placed in with your normal rubbish. To find out how you can dispose of clinical waste in your area telephone your local Council. Schemes that you may be able to benefit from include:
In the past few weeks a member of staff was involved in a road accident and some colleagues expressed a view that they were not aware of what you had to do if you were in an accident or indeed what constituted one. A road accident is when injury is caused to any other person or damage/injury is caused to any other vehicle or any animal (horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog) not in your vehicle. Also if any road side property is damaged. What do you have to do if you are involved in any of the above?
Spring - Thoughts of Gardening Getting older or having a disability can make gardening more of a chore than a pleasure. However, the following tips may encourage you by making life a little easier.If poor sight is making life a little harder paint your tools a bright colour. Buy seeds that come in pellet form and raise your beds reducing the need to kneel or bend. Make sure that wheelchair access is next to the raised beds. (Allow at least a 3 foot wide walkway). Plant all types of crops in containers for easy access and maintenance. Use Water Retaining Crystals to reduce the amount of watering you have to do. The ageing process means that our body does not adjust as quickly or as well as it did to temperature changes, so in summer, garden in the early morning or late in the day. Wear a hat. You can purchase many specially designed tools to help such as long reach forks, trowels, weeders and pruners. There are many organisations that offer help, advice and products. If you want any further information, give us a call and we will give you some contact details. Finally there are several gardening publications that you can have on tape. You can obtain them from the Talking Newspaper Association Tel 01435 866102. Titles include Amateur Gardening, BBC Gardeners World, Which Gardening, and Homes and Gardens. Any number of magazines can be ordered for an annual subscription of £15.00. We had a Wedding! We can advise you of a lovely event that the office staff attended at the beginning of February. One of our Care Managers and one of our Carers got married! Carrying out a "spot check" Norma Barden came across Malcolm Elliott and romance blossomed. Mike Willis was the Best Man and the wedding was a lovely occasion for everyone who attended. Other staff changes In the last two months: Tracey Harvey has returned to Spain and Trudi Kent has gone to pastures new. Samantha Clarke has joined our team of Care Managers. Do You Remember - Lino? Lino (Linoleum) is a floor covering that is made from cork, wood, linseed oil and resins compressed on to a jute or hessian backing. It was the floor covering that most people had until carpets became more popular and affordable The "Lino Factory" in Staines, Middlesex was the first factory in the world to manufacture this floor covering. Set up in 1864, Lino was made there for over 100 years and made the company known throughout the world. The word linoleum comes from a combination of two Latin words for flax or linseed "linum" and oil "oleum" Biscuits for Spring The following recipe is one that is traditionally made in Spring and in many cookery books the recipe is called Easter Biscuits. If you would like to make them you will need:
If you have a smell on your hands that you want to remove try the following method. Wet your hands and sprinkle them with white pepper. Use a washing motion spreading the pepper around your hands and rinse clean. Thanks Our thanks go to the following Carers for their much appreciated help at a difficult time: Irene Glasgow, Robert Brown, Keith German, Alice Opoku-Bonsu, Everjoyce Bvute, Angela Goodwin, Violet Nkomo, Patti Timuri and Kelvin Wheeler. Deaths It is with regret that we have to advise you of the deaths of: Richard Neesham, Hilda Kingham, Mary Crawfurd, Sheila Donnelly and Grace Wannop. Our thanks to everyone who cared for them. Recruitment Interviews Interviews have been held in Torquay, Leeds, Cardiff, Carlisle, Coventry and Norwich. Brochures If you know of anyone who would like more information about the service we provide, please let us know and we will send them a brochure. Also if you know of anyone who would like a copy of our Gazette, please let us know and we will be happy to add them to our mailing list. Finally... Thomas Edison tried over 1000 prototypes before he finally invented the electric light bulb. When asked how he could keep going in the face of so much failure he replied: "But I didn’t fail; I just discovered 999 ways of NOT making a light bulb."
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