Having to leave your home and go into a residential home is the ultimate turning point in your life. Everything familiar and homely changes. You miss your family, neighbours and friends.
I did when, after Rosemary died, I came to Sunrise 18 months ago.
It was the right decision.
My life is different in many ways but it has been happy and fulfilling, despite the pandemic.
I could not be better looked after, thanks to the Sunrise team, especially the carers, who have been marvellous.
Typical of them are Helena and Alice who have helped make my new, permanent home safe, comfortable, and, yes, homely.
Helena
Helena left her home and family in Slovakia to visit her brother in Newport 15 years ago.
She wanted a career in care and nursing and began as a home carer, joining Sunrise five years ago
She could not foreseen how difficult and important it would be, due to coronavirus.
Like all the residents at Sunrise, I benefit from her help, kindness and quiet efficiency.
The past year has made big demands on her family life.
Helena and her partner Gavin live with Leo, six and three year old Mia. When she is on her ten hour shifts, Gavin looks after the children.
It has been a dangerous time for carers and Helena did not escape the virus, recovering and quickly coming back to work.
Her main concern is our safety and wellbeing as I have come to appreciate and value
She shows this in many ways, including solving a problem that had worried me for years - having to collect my medication prescriptions on time. She makes sure that they are delivered regularly to my room.
Like all of us, Helena misses her family, but hopes to make the trip to Slovakia as soon as the travel ban is lifted.
Helena and the Sunrise team make this such a successful and happy home.
Alice
After studying theology at university, Alice did not follow her father, Alan, as a church minister. She was interested in the elderly and their care and welfare.
She started giving lessons in woodcraft at Ty Enfys with her church and became a carer at Sunrise four years ago.
‘I like elderly people. I like to talk to them and get to know them’, she says.
I have come to know how well she succeeds.
It’s a busy, tiring job, looking after our daily needs: pushing wheelchairs, serving in the restaurant, taking our temperatures and seeing we are comfortable and safe, but she still finds time to stop for a chat and solve problems.
When my temperamental laptop and printer pack up she soon gets them and me back in action.
Alice, born in London, has two sisters, Beth who lives in London where her father has his parish, and Laura who lives next door to Alice in Cardiff.
Seventy years or so younger than most of us residents, Alice’s affection and kindness bridges the gap. She likes us, and it shows.
She shares our concerns, especially the loneliness of not seeing our families for months and like us is relieved that at last this is changing.
Alice also made the right career decision and it is making such a difference to ours.
Helena and Alice are typical of our Sunrise carers, men and women from different backgrounds and different lives, but all with the same determination to make Sunrise a comfortable, safe and happy home. How well they succeed.
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