Some of our clients do not need help washing or dressing. What they need is a person. Companionship care sounds soft; it is not. Loneliness in older adults is tied to depression, poor eating, falls and earlier death, and it is very common in a city where the children have moved to Calgary and the neighbours have changed.
What a standing visit is
A fixed slot, the same caregiver, every week. Two or three hours. It might be tea and the crossword, or a drive to the cemetery, or the grocery run done together rather than for them. The content matters less than the certainty.
Why the same person
Because company from a stranger is not company. The value builds over weeks: the caregiver knows the grandchildren’s names, notices that the hearing aid is not in, sees that the walk has not been cleared.
What families tell us
That their mother tidies up on Tuesday morning. That she has something to talk about on the phone. That the caregiver is the one who noticed the swollen ankle.
