“Carer Sam has become my son’s ‘mum’ in school.”

CLIENT CASE STUDY

Louis Henry, 13, lives in Huyton, Liverpool, and attends a local school for pupils with severe and complex needs.

His needs have increased as he has gotten older to the point where he required one-to-one care in school and in September Louis and his family became a client of Komplex Care. Louis’ mum Natalie takes up the story.

She said: “Louis’ needs have changed since he started school and Komplex Care now provides the vital one-to-one care necessary while he is at school. Louis can’t do anything for himself, basically. He is wheelchair-bound, can’t walk, feed or change himself, meaning he requires full-time care for all his physical needs.

“When he started at the school a couple of years ago he could walk but unfortunately his condition is a degenerative one and while he can communicate through speech, that is laboured, although his understanding is perfectly fine.

More care needed

“As he got progressively worse the school tried to meet his increasing needs by bringing an extra member of staff into the classroom but even with that it became evident that he needed one-to-one care.

“The situation was complicated by the fact that he also has epilepsy. The seizures are not daily and can be very subtle – he has focal seizures more commonly so needs someone to be with him at all times and be aware of the possibilities of a seizure.  

“The school uses Komplex Care quite a bit and there are a number of children there who are Komplex Care clients. Komplex Care put a care package in place for Louis and a lovely girl called Sam began with us in September as Louis’ one-to-one.

“She has been absolutely brilliant and Louis has a great relationship with her. Sam is what I call ‘Louis’ mum in school’. She understands everything about him and it has gone really, really well.

More than a carer

“I still work some days in the city centre and need to take my daughter to school. Sam comes to our home at 8.15am and she just takes over. The transport picks Louis and Sam up at 8.45am and at the end of the school day she comes in, settles Louis and does anything that needs doing before she leaves.”

Natalie said there was a good family network around Louis’ care and an excellent bond had been created with his class teachers at school but that the family did have some reservations initially about just how the one-to-one care would play out.

She said: “Getting a one-to-one is a really intimate relationship and although we knew Louis needed it, we were apprehensive about it and who we were going to get. Were they going to gel with us and were we going to gel with them – because it is not all about us!

“We needed the communication and trust and information to be fed back to us from school, alongside making sure that all Louis’ needs were going to be met in school. Our one-to-one needed to be Louis’ voice in his day-to-day life.

“But right from the beginning of meeting the Komplex Care team I felt they had a good understanding of me, my son and our family dynamic. All along the company has been really supportive and the care goes beyond Louis and Sam going to school together – Sam and Komplex Care have become an extra branch of our support network.

Very supportive

“It doesn’t feel like a business arrangement, providing someone to care for my son and that’s it. It is so much more personable and supportive in every way. I can’t sing their praises enough.

“We are one of those families where we always try to do everything for ourselves, keep everything in-house and don’t ask for help. For us this has been a huge thing and Komplex Care understood that from the start. They have handled that and us with care, love, respect and support. It has been just brilliant.

“Sam has been amazing and so have other team members who have stepped in to look after Louis when needed. When Louis was in hospital they were texting wanting to know how he was, how we were doing and offering help. It’s truly great to know that level of support is there if we need it . . . and it is genuine.“When Sam was off, Louis spent time with two other Komplex Care team members at the school who knew Louis’ routine and kept his day the same. It’s really reassuring for us to know that if Sam is off, Louis will be cared for in exactly the same way by caring people he and we know so well.”