The kindness of neighbours sometimes blows me away.
Pete and Lou are one such couple. At the beginning of lockdown, they realised their neighbours, Pat and John, who are only in their early 70s, weren’t coping. Their normally manicured garden was looking a bit tatty. Their front drive had weeds. The windows were dirty. They hadn’t seen Pat for a while.
Lou then bumped into John a few roads away; he’d seemed very confused and apparently had lost his way home. To a home he’d lived in for nearly 30 years.
Taking him home, she found that Pat had fallen down the stairs and hurt her back. She was struggling to clean, cook and shop. They were both losing weight.
It was clear that John’s short-term memory was unreliable, and getting worse. A trip to the GP and an Alzheimer’s diagnosis followed. Meals and wheels started coming at lunchtime, but only 3 days a week.
Their grown-up children refused to believe anything was really wrong.
So, for the last 6 months, Pete and Lou have looked after them, whilst juggling working from home and 3 small children. Lou takes John for a walk every morning when she walks their dog. Pete takes their dinner over every evening. They both help out with the garden, make sure their taking their medications and clean the house. All for no remuneration. (Not that they’d have asked for it. But feeding two extra mouths stretches the family coffers when household incomes fall significantly).
John’s Alzheimer’s has finally got too difficult to cope with at home. Worried for Pat’s safety, and still no assistance from their children, we helped Pete and Lou find and move them into a care home so they can both still be together.
Without the kindness of neighbours, who knows how Pat and John would have coped and been able to stay in their home. I believe there are a lot of Pete and Lou’s in this world – our unsung heros.
If you would like a chat about how the Homemover Specialist could help you move house (or help your elderly neighbours), contact us on 01483 255895 or by email. For more top tips and latest news, follow our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages
Photo by Megan Markham on Unsplash
