- Date: 17/08/2023
71-year-old Marie praises Revival for helping her live independently at home
This summer we're sharing the story of Marie, a local 71-year-old woman who has been helped to live safely and independently at home thanks to Revival, our home support provider.
Marie, who has cataracts and other health conditions that affect her sight and mobility, lives alone in a house that she’s lived in all her life. She has always managed to get by with the support of her family and neighbours.
However in February this year, Marie fell at home after reaching for something that had fallen on the floor. Unable to get up and worried that she might’ve seriously hurt herself, she pressed her emergency alarm. An ambulance was sent to her home and she was taken to Royal Stoke Hospital to be treated.
Luckily, she only had minor injuries and some bruising, staying in hospital for just two days.
While in hospital she was referred to Revival's Home Support Service, which supports local hospitals in and around Staffordshire. The dedicated team work with ward staff to safely discharge patients home.
They carry out jobs such as fitting key safes, providing food parcels, completing home safety checks and so much more.
For Marie, the team made sure she had everything she needed to return home, and she couldn't be more grateful.
“The Revival team were so helpful,” explained Marie.
“They looked at my home situation, asked what support I would like and recommended some things too.
“My husband died a few years ago, which means I now live on my own. Alongside that I have health conditions that affect my sight and mobility.
“It makes everyday tasks like going shopping, cleaning, and putting the bins out difficult.
“My family take me shopping and my amazing neighbour puts my bins out. But I live in a large terrace house, so all the cleaning is left to me and because of my mobility it was getting harder and harder to maintain.”
(Pictured: Revival customer Marie)
After reviewing Marie’s situation Revival recommended and set up a trusted cleaning service to prevent her from having any future falls at home.
“My cleaner’s been in place for three months now, and it’s helped me no end”, added Marie.
“She’s lovely and does a fabulous job. It’s also really nice to have a familiar face pop in every week to chat to. Revival set it up, and it gives me peace of mind knowing it’s someone I can trust.”
Revival also recommended that Marie apply for attendance allowance as she was now paying people to support her to live independently.
Knowing she had issues reading and writing, they requested the DWP visit Marie at home to help with her application.
“The application form was 15 pages long! I would never have been able to fill it out by myself,” said Marie.
“Revival were great and arranged for someone to visit me at home to complete my application. I now get additional income support which helps me to stay living independently at home.”
Marie says she didn’t want to go into hospital when it was happening, but is now so glad she did because of the support she received from Revival.
“At the time the last thing I wanted to do was to go into hospital”, explained Marie.
“Although I have conditions that affect me physically, I’m still 18 in my mind and want to remain living independently for as long as I can. So, a stay in hospital was daunting.
“But now I’m really glad I did because I was introduced to Revival. They’ve put longer term support in place that means I’m in such a better place than I was before going into hospital.
“I’m grateful for their help and I can’t recommend them enough.”