Karen’s lived experience

Karen, Nisha and Tasha, a resident and her Personal Assistants

Please note: masks are being worn out of choice, to protect a vulnerable person; this is not a requirement for all PAs.

How Personal Assistants can bring Independence and Companionship for Leicestershire Residents

Personal Assistants provide fine-tuned care for the people they look after. But it is more than just domestic duties and personal care, as Karen and her PAs have been explaining. Hear from Karen, Tasha and Nisha about their experiences, and the benefits they bring to each other’s lives.

Karen: Resident who employs PAs

Tasha and Nisha: Personal Assistants

Why did you choose to employ Personal Assistants?

Karen: At the very beginning I was gonna have agency care. I didn’t sign the contract, so I went back to County Hall. I wanted to go out into the community, maybe do an art class with everybody else. There wasn’t that sort of stimulation for us as disabled people, so I thought I’d get involved. Then senior management supported us to develop and get more PAs.

How did you become PAs?

Tasha: I was a hairdresser at the beginning of Covid. Obviously, Covid hit, all hairdressers shut. I kept skipping past on the job offer; I’d look at it and go, “Nah, I can’t do that.” But then I just thought, you know what, I need a job, I’m gonna apply for it, and I did, and that was it.

Nisha: I used to work in a showroom for kitchens and bathrooms. But I’ve always wanted to be in care, since my Nana died. So when I saw Karen’s job, I thought, that’s the job for me.

Karen: We put [the job] on Facebook, and a friend of hers saw it and told her about it. Almost like it was meant to be, wasn’t it?

What do you have to consider in the role?

Tasha: You’ve got to have empathy. You’ve got to understand what that person wants. No point me going, “No, you’re doing this today,” if they don’t want to go out. You have to be willing to alter what you’re doing.

Karen: And I’ve always said to you, “You’ve got a problem, just tell us, we’ll have a chat about it.” Yes, I’m their employer at the end of the day, but if she’s in my home, I want her to be comfortable as well as us to be comfortable.

Tasha: It’s all about communication. And they don’t know what you’re feeling unless you tell them. So, it is all about communication. And obviously me and Nisha have got to get on!

What does a Personal Assistant role entail?

Karen: We go for walks, we go shopping, we go to activities, we go to the pictures, we go to my art class.

Nisha: We do Wednesday together.

Karen: All the chores in the house are done evenly between them, because they’re there together doing it, so all the big things that need doing once a week get done. In the summertime if I want to go out somewhere, we’ll all go out together and we’ll all go for some lunch or something, as well as get all the housekeeping out the way. Christmas dinners too.

It’s mental wellbeing. More than just hoovering and cooking. If I didn’t have them coming in and helping with those sorts of things, my environment wouldn’t be clean or tidy. And that’s important to me, to have a nice environment.

Tasha: And sometimes it’s not about doing things, it’s about just sitting there and chatting, sorting the world out.

Karen: It’s about supporting people. It’s that stimulation and company. They tell us about the kids, what their families are doing; we have conversations, it all keeps us connected. So, it’s for the community and what’s going on outside of the little bubble I’m in.

What would you say to anyone who is looking at the role?

Tasha: Don’t hold back, don’t think like I did, “Oh, I can’t do it, I can’t do it.” Just go and do it and enjoy it.

Nisha: Go for it. Just take it. You’ll never look back. I finish work every day with a sense of achievement that I’ve not had in any other job, so go for it.