When Leeds resident Josephine Hicks went into hospital for a hip operation, she was worried about how she was going to cope.
Her daughter lives hundreds of miles away in Slough and her husband had recently been admitted to a nursing home. On top of this, her son had died suddenly a few months earlier so she was feeling very low.
Fortunately, Josephine was referred to the Red Cross’ care in the home service before she even went into hospital – which meant support worker Beverley Yardley was on hand to call in the day after her operation.
‘Brilliant’ support
Josephine said: “I was so happy to see Beverley and she looked really nice and friendly in her Red Cross uniform. When you’re sat there in your nightie, it’s lovely to see someone like that who has come in especially to chat and reassure you. It was brilliant.”
And when the pensioner returned home, care in the home volunteer Judith Dunderdale started regularly popping round to help with jobs such as shopping, cleaning out the fridge and returning library books. She also arranged for a therapeutic care volunteer to give Josephine a massage to help relieve the stress.
‘Couldn’t do enough’
Josephine said: “I was definitely in a crisis – probably more so than an average person coming out of hospital – on account of my bereavement. I was in no man’s land and it was very difficult, but Judith is very caring – it meant such a lot to me.”
She added: “The Red Cross was incredible. The volunteers couldn’t do enough for me and their support really helped – they’ve been absolutely wonderful.”
Learn more about the care in the home service
