The Care Crew offers palliative care, spinal care and also dementia related care for their clients. The care company is also familiar with the protocol for medical care at home.
The company was founded by Ben’s mother, Helen McDonald, over a decade ago with the aim of raising the bar for the care of the elderly.
Ben Macdonald tells us about the company he now runs. He said to The Edinburgh Reporter : “The whole business came about because my mum used to work in care homes when she was younger, and she saw that the clients, the elderly, were not getting the best possible treatment.
“Being taken away from their family and their home was clearly very stressful for them – as if dementia didn’t take away enough already – so she thought, why not turn it on its head and send fantastic carers, handpicked by ourselves, into the clients’ homes?”
And that is exactly what The Care Crew do: they offer a bespoke in-home care service for those who suffer from debilitating illnesses or conditions in the latter years of their lives. “By delivering the care in their own homes, the clients can still maintain their freedom,” Ben explained.
“It’s not stripped away from them by being restricted to a care home room every day. “Freedom is something that we want to retain as much as possible so there isn’t any part of Scotland that we won’t go to.”
“Based in Perthshire, we have clients as far west as Argyll and as far north as Aberdeen, and we’ve even been known to go abroad.”
Certainly, The Care Crew do not hesitate to go the extra mile when it comes to giving their clients a first-class standard of care.
All of the company’s employees are taught to treat their clients like they would their own grandparents or members of their family.
Ben said: “The girls and guys who work for us are all amazing and they all genuinely care.
“Unfortunately, as happens in the care business, clients pass away and it has an effect on everyone but that’s the way it should be because if you’re helping them properly day-to-day you will develop an attachment.
“It’s called care for a reason, and you are, and
should be there, all the way through to the
end to provide the best possible care.
“That’s our main ethos, and the client will
always come first.”
Depending on the client’s individual requirements, The Care Crew carers will, on a daily basis, help their clients to wash, groom and dress; prepare meals for them; and do any required housework, all while maintaining their clients’ dignity as far as possible.
“It’s just about trying to maintain a normal standard of life,” Ben explained.
“Depending on each client’s condition, you try and get them out for the day and try to give them as much of a normal life as possible.
“Sometimes we’ll just go and see their friends or family, or just for a walk around the block. Some clients are housebound or even bedbound, but, again, it’s just about trying to maintain that balance as best you can.”
Ben has been a carer for seven years now, but he didn’t always plan to go into this line of work, and it was a rugby-related injury that led him down his current career path.
“I was at university in Dundee, and, two years through my degree, I had a change of heart,” Ben revealed.
“I went to do a water sports instructor course, became qualified in surfing and sailing, and organised to work in Greece. “Unfortunately, after years of playing rugby, I had to have surgery on my shoulder which meant that my work in Greece was off the cards. I still needed a job though, and eventually my mum offered me the opportunity to work for her.
“She gave me a chance to meet one of the clients, an elderly guy, and we got along well. I took that chance and I’ve absolutely loved it.”
Ben is just one of over 50 like-minded The Care Crew carers, each of whom are assigned to clients according to how their skills might best suit the client’s needs.
As such, The Care Crew are fast becoming the benchmark in the at home care industry.
For more information: 07738 625 021, or www.carecrew.co.uk
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
