Dr. Mrs.
Jumoke Odunsi is a medical doctor, she graduated from University of Ibadan in
1995. She was basically into clinical practice until 2004 when she felt
the need to do something else. At that point, she had to quit
clinical practice and decided to give herself some time, prayed over what she
wanted exactly. It was after she got the inspiration and as a medical
doctor, she knew that she had the edge to take care of old people and
eventually pioneered service to the elderly. She told the story of
how she established WellCare Home Medicals Ltd. Excerpts.
Would you say that
WellCare Home Medicals is a spiritual inspiration and what do you think is the
heart of care giving in the family?
Caring is actually what gives me the greatest pleasure. When we
see people, who are faced with challenges of taking care of sick ones, it
affects the family psychologically, emotionally and physically. Because
when you have this kind of challenge, you probably will not be able to
concentrate at work. We have seen people with challenges that had to stop work
for about two or three years. And, of course, it drains you, and because you
don’t want to show the person that you are tired. But when they have a
professional care givers, they can have their lives back. They can go to work
and can concentrate and even travel, knowing that their old folks are in good
hands. Psychologically and emotionally, especially, for those, who have
terminally ill persons. It’s tough, they are going through a whole lot of
stuff, we provide succour for them in different ways. You don’t have to be
worried about the person, despite the challenges.
What is the focus of this
organisation?
WellCare started as a pioneer of social care work in Nigeria.
One of our goals is opening a complete new sector that has the potential
to employ and take unemployed people off the streets, even abroad a whole lot
of people are employed in the social care office. It is a massive industry that
is emerging and if given the right support, it will help the country to up
their GDP.
I think the government should focus and support the sector so
that a whole lot of people will get to benefit from it. Secondly, we want to be
able to support older people to live good and dependent lives, I tell
people that most older persons in Nigeria die due to lack of care and out
of frustration. Sometimes, I go to homes and I feel sad, most of them have children
abroad, sending money to them but the question is, do the money
ever get to them?
What is the role of a
care-giver in a patient’s life?
We provide different levels of services and it is a
person-centred care. So, if you want us to take care of your dad, we will come
and see your dad. We will ask the peculiar challenge that he’s got. If
you want someone to be fully there by him, it means the care-giver would cook,
do his laundry, take care of his room – it’s holistic. He already has a doctor,
hospital and the caregiver will help to make sure that the old man gets to the
hospital for his appointment. So, you don’t have to miss work because you have
to take dad or mum to the hospital.
Can WellCare go outside
Lagos and how large are your tentacles?
We are actually outside Lagos.We are in Port Harcourt,
Abuja and in Ibadan. We can go anywhere you want us to go.
Not everybody can
afford a personal care-giver. We need functioning old people’s home in
Nigeria. Where do you think government is lacking and where do you think
they can improve?
Care of older persons is a social service. They are supposed to
be government responsibility. However, it might not be 100 per cent
government’s responsibility. Government might be able to contribute 60 per cent
and then you do the remaining. It is true that several people require this
service but cannot afford it. How much is their take home pay? One of the
things that we believe that the government can do is to go to the various
constituencies, provide care givers in their employment, even if they don’t do
home care everyday. If this person that cannot afford this service can have a
professional visit once or twice in a week, it will make a lot of difference.
The government can actually empower us to train the care givers, to train
people that they will be pay.
There was something else
you said…that you must not be in the medical field to be a care-giver?
We train people but most of all, what we are looking for in a
care-giver is passion and right attitude. You must have a good and loving
heart, also willing to help. If you are passionate, you can be trained. The
truth is that it is a tough job but if you are willing to learn, you can be
trained.
So, there is no basic
academic requirement?
You must be able to read and write because it is important and
then we train you. We benchmark against international standard so you can
actually have a certificate. We are now international trainers, It is the
same training all over the world. You won’t have the training in one day. It will
take time because you are talking about NVQ 1. You need to have your first NVQ.
What is NVQ?
National Vocational Qualification. It’s a vocation for care
workers all over the world. Some people have even been practicing in care work
two or three years before they get their NVQ 1. Some of these trainings are
quite expensive, so you won’t want to make it a criteria for them to work, once
you have you induction training and basic training you can actually start
practicing but the Gold standard is that as while you are practicing you
develop your self on the job, which ultimately determines the level of skills.
Do you have to pay for
these trainings?
For some, I would say yes; for others, it is no but
definitely some of the trainings that lead to international certificate, I will
say yes. But very soon we shall open our doors to everybody. Before now, we
trained people, who worked with us. Maybe, you have family members, who are
good in taking care of your grandpa and you want the person to have a degree of
professional training or you want to be a professional care-giver and you don’t
necessary want to work with us, we will train you.
How do you cope with this
new venture?
It is totally by the grace of God. It’s actually a tough job. I
have to work with these people one on one. They don’t know how to relate with
people and no, etiquette. So, you have to train them.
Care-giving in Nigeria,
for me it’s a relatively new, are we ready for that, transferring the
responsibility of your elderly one to a total stranger, are we ready for that
in Nigeria?
Nigerians are obviously ready for it. Truth is that a lot of
Nigerian do not have much time and patience anymore to take care of their
elderly ones. The patience we require in taking care of the elderly is grossly
lacking so we have come to a situation where professional care giving will have
to replace the old order.
What are the limitations
of a care giver?
Care giving is a profession there are different trainings that a
caregiver need on the go. When you as professional care-giver you are seconded
to a client and you don’t have the skill to take care of the particular person
because there are different skills that you have to acquire, and so if you not
have the required skill you are going to have challenges in taking care of that
person. However, broadly speaking, a professional care giver is a stranger, and
traditionally people are not so open and welcome to a stranger who suddenly
become a very close associate of the family who most likely will not stops at,
initially reaction is that, you are not even sure that this person are safe in
their home, they are not sure if they can trust this person, there are that
limitation. Professional caregivers had been trained to handle all of these
limitations as it were. But a professional care giver should be able to manage
the challenges.
What are these skills you
talk about?
The care-giver must know how to relate very well. A care-giver
must know how to assist the older adult in their daily activities. You must
have been trained, for example, to change the garter; you must have been
trained to use the wheelchair, you must have been trained on how to use gadgets
and instruments available, you must have been trained to understand the
psychology and their physiology as well so that you know that managing older
adult is actually a professional and scientific thing.
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