It’s a very interesting statement to place in an advert. These people are well worth a hug, the care they give is of the highest and most dedicated I have ever seen. Especially when most of the World seems to want to destroy itself. We experienced the compassion and knowledge first hand when the home nurses cared for my father in the final days of his life. This was the darkest time for everyone involved but out of it came some beautiful friendships, it also opened our eyes to the fact that a support group is needed here to help those elderly people on their own.
The home nursing team are Ines Oswald, Heather Loach and Frank Langenberg; they have been working here for 2 years ago. Ines and her husband Thomas came to Portugal in 2004 and fell in love with the Algarve. Ines was already a practicing nurse at home in Germany, working in general nursing. The decision to move to Portugal was a lifestyle choice. After a short while Ines could see that there were a lot of elderly German people living here and many of them would be requiring the help of a nurse. There is no totally free healthcare in Portugal.
The team
Ines is originally from Berlin and has 25 years nursing experience in German, with 23 years of hospital experience, but only start to specialise in elderly care here in Portugal. Her husband Thomas is involved in Sulcare, which sells and hires mobility equipment, like wheelchairs and scooters and has just started installing stairlifts.
Heather also specialises in elderly care and worked in this field during her time in the UK. Heather didn’t start nursing until late in her life, and has 17 years, with most of her experience in a hospital environment, she joined Ines a year ago.
Frank is a nurse carer, originally from Amsterdam, has worked in elderly care at retirement and nursing homes for the past 17 years. Frank, a former opera singer with a love of Maria Callas, is a very keen gardener, he is currently working at a nursing home Santa Barbara, so as well as looking after the patients, he also spends time in the garden looking after the plants. Frank’s move to the Algarve was also a life style change, he has also named his house after his favorite opera star, Casa Callas.
The team do not specialise solely in German patients and can cater for many nationalities, they have a varied of languages, including English, German, Dutch, French and Portuguese. They are willing to travel and can cover most of the Algarve; at least from Lagos to Loulé and inland to Monchique, they also have contacts farther a field who can help.
Important work
Green & Red believe the team have a really important role to play here, many people have retired here, many due to age need help with health issues and isolated in a foreign country, You don’t have feel this way there is help available, the Home Nursing team can cater for all you health needs and also with the after care. Many of the simple things like changing dressing, taking blood pressure take up a lot of the doctor’s time, this time could be used to look after other patients. The nurses can easily handle this and for those alone, it gives them some regular contact, there are instances where the patients remain in contact with the nurse long after the treatment has finished.
The nurses work very closely with the doctors and specialists overseeing your case, this has some important advantages, for example, the nurse can monitor your medication and make the doctor aware of any conflicts that arise. Doctors are not always aware of all the medication you are taking; the nurses have a vast drug knowledge and from experience know the medicines that don’t work together very well. They will talk to doctors regarding any problems with medication. For their part the doctors also appreciate this and having the home nurses around. The working relationship between nurses and doctors is very good and strong and it works really well giving the patients the best possible treatment.
But Ines believes that it’s more than that “we not only treat the person, we will give them the best care, we will give them enough time, they will have the knowledge that they can speak to us and that they will feel well, and they also know that if there is a problem we will be there and that everything will be okey, if the nurse is not available we can send another person” she says. “We try to give, not only treatment, but our love and care and all our time.”
The nurse have all the bases covered, and they do go that extra bit further as we, as a family have experienced, from the serious full on care to the simple things and more, they will often, again working with the doctors, collect repeat prescriptions from the Pharmacies. What’s more you get the treatment in your own home, the place where you probably feel most at ease and comfortable.
This type of support structure is desperately needed; those beautiful big villas can be very lonely when you’re on your own. Not only that but with the knowledge base and contact base that the Home Nursing nurses have they can cater for almost any situation, and provide you with someone who can help. The nurse would even help with everyday issues like if you needed help with shopping or outpatient visits to a clinic or hospital.
The nurses are also available for tourists, in fact they encourage people to use them, “We don’t want people to feel they can’t come here on holiday, we are aware that some things are difficult, such as the footpaths. But we can help” says Heather. “Also the newer hotels are much better and better equipped to deal with the less mobile. As well as taking the patients out, we can share the care giving the patient’s full time carer some free time”.
The Home Nursing nurses do indeed offer a full and comprehensive service, that goes way beyond the call of duty, and also gives something money just can’t buy, love and care, which is so rare in today’s society. I think that the statement: “Have you hugged your nurse today” is most fitting statement. The consultation is free and if you need help, no matter how minor you think, there is help available at the end of the phone.
