Abacare carers considered ‘part of the family’

Mark Lewis from Gaerwen says he considered his daughter’s carers to be a part of their extended family and they helped provide care where the family couldn’t (September, 2018).

Yvette Clark, Delyth Evans, Karen Jones, Mary Suddaby, Angharad Williams, Natalie Grey, Christine Harkin and Toni Chatfield from our Bangor office all provided care to 35-year-old Llinos Williams who was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Mark said: “We are extremely grateful to all of the Abacare carers who looked after Llinos. They quickly became a part of our extended family as we saw them on a regular basis and they not only went above and beyond the call of duty, but they treated Llinos as a true friend rather than a service user.”

Jodie Williams, Operations Executive, said: “Llinos needed two carers to attend to her each time they visited and it was key that she saw the same faces on a regular basis, which meant we had to put together a team of carers who were truly committed.

“They regularly went above and beyond the call of duty for Llinos as due to her needing two carers each time, many of them volunteered to visit and provide care for her on their days off.

“Because of this and because of the excellent care our staff provided I received regular phonecalls from Llinos’ parents Mark and Menai to compliment their work and to say that Llinos always enjoyed having the team care for her and there were always lots of laughs between them all, which was always so heart-warming to hear.

“When Llinos passed away the staff found it very difficult as they had grown so close to her and she was more like a friend than a service user to them.”

Toni Chatfield, Regional Manager and one of Llinos’ carers, said: “It was a real honour to have met Llinos and her family and they are examples of why working in care is such a fantastic job. It didn’t feel like going to work when we visited them as they treated us so well and really welcomed us all into the family.”