Younger Adults story – Callum
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After a lot of surgery and rehabilitation Callum was moved to a facility to continue his rehabilitation, however he was not around those who had the same needs as him. This was not the best environment for Callum, but he made a lot of progress in just a year.
After a year Callum moved wards as he started to develop challenging behaviour, this is when Callum started to suffer with his own mental health and inevitably went downhill. His mobility soon started to decline, his behaviour got worse and he did not feel well supported. This is when his social worker decided to look into live-in care.
The social worker went to a lot of different care companies to find a live-in care package, but many were not able to meet Callum’s specific needs and a lot of hope was lost. Then, Callum met a new care needs assessor – John.
John carried out his assessment and felt Agincare were best suited to enable Callum to move back home and improve his quality of life.
Callum was carefully matched to Pawel who became his live-in care assistant. John stipulated that Pawel needed to have at least two weeks training with the current facility before Callum arrived home. This gave Callum a chance to have trust in Pawel and to get to know him better before the move.
It was not an easy start as this was a very emotional time for Callum. Callum finds it difficult to process emotions which puts him at risk of misunderstanding information and being misunderstood.
Pawel was very patient and was able to handle most situations that came up. With some initial support from social services and his neurologist specialist, Pawel and Callum have worked together so well that Callum has now been discharged from any support groups, with Agincare managing his care entirely.
Since Callum has been home, he has gained more memory and his mental health has improved. His speech has developed and he is now starting to draw and write poetry again! Pawel is a great advocate for Callum and has lots of wonderful ideas to get him out in the community and socialising again.
Callum has a lot of friends and family with whom he is very close. Before live in-care, no one would visit as they felt uncomfortable around other residents at the previous facility. Callum could not see his young daughter due to the nature of the care home. He would have to wait weeks to see her when his ex-partner would allow him and only when Callum was visiting his mum at her house.
Now, Callum sees his daughter nearly every weekend and his mum has a very active role in Callum’s care, which she has wanted to do. Callum often has visitors – they turn up with pizza and a few beers.
Pawel takes Callum into town every other day. Every Friday (before lockdown) they attend live rock gigs in Weymouth in local pubs and clubs, which is the highlight of Callum’s week. In Callum’s view, “it makes me feel normal.”
Pawel and Jodie continue to look into more activities that Callum can do, such as swimming and attending the gym. Callum wants to do more wheelchair-based sports and would like to go kayaking and abseiling, all of which are no longer out of the realm of possibility. With live in care these possibilities are endless and Callum has hope for the future for the first time in five years.
The Agincare team work very closely with Callum. Pre COVID-19 Jodie, an Agincare field care supervisor visited Callum frequently to see how he was getting on and to review his care package, but also to visit as a friend. Due to restrictions these visits have been put on hold, but thanks to technology Jodie and Callum now have regular video calls.
Since COVID-19, Pawel has been unable to support Callum, but we were able to secure a new care worker, Miguel. Miguel has enabled Callum’s support to remain consistent during a difficult and uncertain time. Consistency with care has meant that Callum has continued to progress and has developed a new friendship with Miguel.
When asked what has been the biggest improvement for him since he has been under our care, Callum said, “All the staff from the DOM care, and live-in care workers, talk to me like a human being.”
“I have my life back to the best it can be, I can see my friends when I want and my family, I have a better sense of stoicism. I am so happy and want others in my position to have the same level of care I have, and most importantly… hope”.
Callum has expressed how grateful he is to Agincare for supporting him and giving him “more friends, in the form of Pawel and Jodie”.