Ninety, incontinent and having a shower once a week: “The limit has been reached!”

As soon as Helma hears the news from her mother, has comforted her and has walked with her, she climbs into the pen. A letter to the municipality, home care organization Omring where her mother is a client and to the Ministry of Health. “She is not an isolated case, there are many more. This has to stop.”

And it’s true that it doesn’t stand alone. Renate Evers of the ANBO elderly association, for example, says: “This lady’s story is poignant, we hear it more and more.” Healthcare, including West Frisian home care, is struggling with a shortage of staff. Especially towards the holiday season. “The boundaries of what is necessary care are increasingly shifting,” says Marja Flameling of home care organization Wilgaerden.

From three showers to one shower

Scaling down care starts with Helma’s mother during the corona crisis. “She is always showered three times a week. It is necessary,” she says. “She’s ninety and incontinent.” But due to the pandemic, it is suddenly less. They go from showering three times a week to twice a week.

“Until it is April 2022,” says Helma. Two people want to come and wash her mother, but when they see the bathroom, Helma’s mother is said: We’re not going to shower you here anymore.

According to Helma, the bathroom no longer meets the requirements. “My mother was stressed about it. She was completely upset. After I talked to home care, they did wash her. But they were clear: the bathroom has to be changed.”

“She had a shower tray and that was no longer allowed and a handle had to be put in. She already had a shower chair.” Together with her brothers and her mother, Helma sorts everything out. The bathroom is being renovated. Cost: 6,000 euros. “The bathroom had just been finished a few weeks ago, when my mother received the letter saying that she will only shower once a week.”

Until here and no further

‘I’m just too much, it’s just time for me to go’, Helma’s mother sometimes says. With this, the limit for Helma has really been reached. “My mother is from the riot.”

She and her brothers try to support her mother as much as possible. “I am her only daughter and I have three brothers. Each contributes in its own way.” Helma tries to help her mother with washing or showering, but that is a huge challenge for her. “I once had an accident in Thailand and I had a disability on my arm, I also have a hernia†

Home care tells Helma that there is a significant staff shortage. “But”, says Helma: “The care simply cannot be less. She pays 19 euros per month for the help she receives. But that is not scaled down. It is not about those few euros. She has to pay double from me. and she gets the care she deserves.”

With her letter of fire, Helma wants to put her hand in the fire not only for her mother, but also for others. “Because what will be left in the future?”

Smart solutions

And that’s a good question. According to home care organization Omring, which does not want to discuss this individual case, a solution for not taking a shower is: caring washing. It saves time for the care worker and it is less stressful for the client, says Omring. “In this way, the care and treatment is always guaranteed, only sometimes in a slightly different way than clients were always used to.”

Home care organizations are also looking at other smart solutions in order to keep the client satisfied and not to overload the care worker. Such as the use of the social robot, image bubbles and a medicine dispenser.

Helma informs us that her mother is not being groomed at the moment. “I don’t know if it was offered to her either. I haven’t heard from her about it.”