LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT LET’S GET PHYSICAL
Amrit Dhaliwal, CEO and Founder of Walfinch, explains why delivering care that includes more activity and mobility can help turn back time on the effects of medical conditions.
Care is not the start of an inevitable decline - but that's what many people think, including (whisper it) some in the care sector. We need to overthrow this belief, because we know that carefully tailored care can be a way to revitalise lives, making people fitter, healthier and happier.
How do we make the most of this, though? Nothing will make you live forever (yet!) but delivering care that includes more activity and mobility can help roll back the effects of medical conditions, restore physical ability, help counter some kinds of mental ill-health and increase wellbeing.
Don't believe me? The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirms this. The WHO states: “Regular physical activity is proven to help prevent and manage non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and several cancers. It also helps to maintain a healthy body weight and can improve mental health, quality of life and well-being.”
We have all seen high-quality, personalised care improve lives, but I believe we can go further than that. By combining mobility, activity and engagement, with compassionate care, we can help our clients thrive, not just survive.
“You've got to expect this – it's just old age”
We should counter this negative thinking. Sometimes it is “just old age” – but oſten it need not be. Even without diagnosed conditions, many people resign themselves to limited lives because they attribute their inability to do things to the inevitable effects of ageing. Yet even many of their symptoms can be reversed.
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We are more likely to get involved with activities and stick with them when we are with others. Care homes oſten provide group activities – but more home care services could offer them too. That's why all Walfinch offices are now offering their clients Thrive Sessions – free activities such as chair yoga, arts and craſts sessions, and exercise classes tailored to clients' abilities. Clients can be taken to sessions by carers or both can follow the activities online – and both can join in.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
Chartered physiotherapist Will Ferguson from The Caring Physio, who specialises in providing home visits to older and less mobile people, told me: “We find that many clients have lost basic physical skills, such as getting into and out of bed, or out of the house into the car. If we can help them recover those skills they can live much more fulfilling lives.”
WHAT WE CAN DO
As care providers, first we must challenge the stereotyped image of a care client. Our society sees someone who has the help of carers as less able, with less of a life and less of a voice. That is, if it sees them at all – many people (and governments, it seems) prefer care clients to be invisible.
But the fact is that our clients are people who want to their lives to carry on as normally as possible, and in many cases, to grow. Decline into a sedentary life maintained only by pills is not inevitable. The right care can delay or even halt the progress of many conditions that are seen as an inevitable result of age and disability. Carers can help that happen, and enjoy new activities as well.
GROUP ACTIVITIES
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