Prior to moving into Extra Care in 2024, Rachel had been living independently in a two-storey house with her adult daughter, supported by domiciliary care workers.
She had been born with Cerebral Palsy and used a wheelchair but was beginning to become isolated from the community due to her visual impairment. She didn’t feel safe and was beginning to lose her independence, spending a lot of time at home.
Rachel's house had been adapted to a high standard and fitted with a lift that went through the floor. However, this often broke, leaving her stranded between two levels, often waiting hours for an engineer to arrive and help her.
“I think if I had stayed where I was my physical health would have deteriorated,” she said.
“Being in the community care, you get time slots and sometimes you need care quickly and, in the situation I was, I just wasn't getting efficiently the right amount of care.”
Rachel was first introduced to Extra Care by her social worker. When she eventually moved in, her open plan apartment was based on a single level and adapted to meet her needs so she could move around freely. Her front door can be opened by an electric button, and her kitchen surfaces have been lowered with nothing underneath so she can fit her chair beneath the countertops.
“It just made my life so much easier the adaptions that I have been able to do to the property to make life easier,” she said.
As well as enjoying the freedom to move around her home, Rachel also joins in with activities at the scheme and has built her confidence up enough to head out into the community from the nearby bus stop.
“Before moving in here, I didn't know anything about Extra Care until a social worker told me that this service existed and these communities are here and it just transformed my life,” she said.
“It's really given me a quality of life. I know I can go out the front door, be safe.
“It it really has just made everything so, so much better. It's improved my confidence. It's just incredible. Incredible.”