Why the home matters more than people expect

By Chanoa Johnson

“Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone,” Psalm 71:9

I started Tavara because I watched too many families bring a wonderful care professional into a home that was not ready for her. Within a week, everyone was frustrated. The care professional, because she could not do her job. The loved one, because the house felt strange. The family, because they could not understand why something they had paid for felt like it was not working.

Families in Trinidad often focus on finding the right care professional and forget that the room around the care professional does half the work. A loved one who can reach a glass of water on her own keeps a small piece of independence. A bathroom with a steady grab bar prevents the fall that sends the whole family to Port of Spain General at 11 p.m. A clear hallway lets a care professional move quickly when something changes.

When the home is ready, the care team can do real care. When the home is not ready, the care team spends the shift working around the house instead of with your loved one.

Before the first shift starts, walk through the home with the eyes of someone who has never lived there. Five things to look at.

Airflow. Open a window in the room where your loved one will spend most of the day. A breeze across the bed makes a long afternoon bearable in June heat. If the room only has one window, a small standing fan is a kindness.

Hallway clearance. Walk from the bedroom to the bathroom and from the bedroom to the kitchen. Move anything narrower than three feet of clear space. Rugs slip. Cords trip. Shoes by the door belong in a basket, not on the floor.

Bathroom safety. A grab bar near the toilet and one inside the shower. A non-slip mat. A plastic shower chair if standing for ten minutes is hard. None of this is expensive at Massy Stores or any pharmacy. All of it prevents the fall you are afraid of.

Medication zone. One shelf, one table, one labelled box. Not three bottles in the kitchen, two in the bedroom, and one in a handbag. A care professional giving a 7a.m. dose at the same place every morning makes fewer mistakes than a care professional hunting through the house.

Care professional workspace. A chair the care professional can sit in during quiet hours. A small table for the daily log. A clear spot to charge a phone for the shift-end handoff. Treat the care professional like a professional with a workstation, because that is what she is.

The care professional brings her training. The family provides the supplies. A short list to start with.

• Disposable gloves, two boxes, kept where they are used
• A blood pressure cuff and a thermometer the family already trusts
• Clean towels and washcloths set aside for personal care, not shared with the rest of the household
• The week’s medications, sorted, in one place
• Food the loved one eats, labelled in the fridge so the care professional does not have to guess
• A notebook for the daily log, in household/family/care arrangement the dashboard is not open

This list is not a shopping spree. Most families already own most of it. The work is putting it where the care professional can find it without asking three questions.

Some families do the walk-through, fix the small things over a weekend, and the home is ready. Other families look at the house and realise it needs more than one Saturday. A bedroom that has been a storage room for years. A bathroom that needs a real reset before a grab bar will hold. A garden gate that does not close.

Spend a Saturday on the walk-through. Fix the small things first. If the big things are too much for one weekend, call us and we will help you plan. The care goes better when the house is on your side.