Simone

About Me

I’m mum to 20yo Grace who has Cerebral Palsy and looking to get a team of personal assistants for her.
Job description-
Job Description – Personal Assistant to for Grace

Background Information

Grace is nearly 21 years of age and lives with her mum in their home in Wanstead. At 9 Months old Grace was diagnosed with Quadriplegic Athetoid Cerebral Palsy.

Grace is a fully cognitive, very determined, strong willed, stubborn young lady. She is highly motivated to overcome her physical limitations but equally is extremely frustrated by them, causing her annoyance and frustration at times.

Grace’s Cerebral Palsy affects her physically. While out and about she will use an electric wheelchair however while indoors (unless feeling poorly) she chooses to walk around the house.

Grace has difficulty with fine motor skills, her movements are poorly coordinated despite Grace’s immense motivation/frustration to try hard.

Although an incredibly determined young lady Grace is reliant on her mum’s support to assist her with all activities of daily living with many simple tasks such as eating and drinking taking a while and requiring close supervision and patience.

Grace communicates verbally, her speech is affected by her Cerebral Palsy however is understandable by others the majority of time.

Grace experiences good general health and has become used to having a carer assist her with the most intimate of tasks.

Grace has an assistance dog who helps her with fetching thing things, undressing, calming her down and making her feel more confident when out in public.

Like any other teenager Grace enjoys social media via various platforms


Duties of personal assistant

The role requires close personal contact with an individual who is extremely vulnerable to the risk of infection and disease transmission. Preference may be given to applicants who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Careful consideration will be given to applicants who can show the vaccination is not suitable for them on reasonable grounds.

The central role of the personal assistant will be to contribute to Grace’s safety and welfare.
Personal assistants will support Grace in her own home, within her local community, going shopping, attending concerts, basically anything a teenager likes to do.

As part of their role personal assistants may be required to accompany Grace and her mum on holidays or solely/with another personal assistant to an activity holiday such as The Calvert Trust.

Personal assistants will be expected to work co-operatively with Grace’s family and take directions from them in line with their needs as a family, follow Graces care plan and understand Grace’s daily living needs.

Sleep ins maybe required to see to Grace in the night should she wake or if mum goes away.


Specific duties will include:

Personal Care

1. Assistance with all aspects of personal care to include washing, bathing, dressing, eating, drinking, hair and makeup.
2. Support with her exercise programme to promote, maintain, and enhance her mobility/well-being in consultation with her Physiotherapist.
3. To access and utilise specialist equipment available to her both now and in the future to maintain and enhance her quality of life.
4. To encourage Grace’s development of a positive self image and self esteem to enable her to reach her maximum potential in all areas.
5. To maintain Grace’s safety



In the home

6. preparation of meals for Grace (and sometimes her mum)
7. Some household tasks such as cleaning Grace’s bedroom, bathroom, therapy room, carers bedroom and bathroom.
8. Grace’s washing and ironing (sometimes mums ironing)
9. other household tasks as negotiated with Grace’s mum.
10. Supporting Grace to care for her assistance dog.


Community/Leisure Activities

* Support and encouragement to participate and engage in social/leisure activities
* Support to complete her college homework and other educational based tasks
* Transporting and accompanying Grace to meeting friends, current activities and new ones as she develops
* Accompanying Grace to The Calvert Trust or similar holiday opportunities
* Providing Grace’s personal care at college

The above list is not exhaustive. Personal assistants will be expected to use their initiative at all times and in particular when dealing with new or unexpected situations that are not set out within the job description.

Working Environment

Grace’s home, garden and vehicle are totally non-smoking environments. Personal assistants will be unable to smoke at any time that they are directly responsible for Grace.

Driving License

It is preferable personal assistants possess a Full UK Driving License and have done so for a minimum of 1 year.


DBS

Due to the personal nature of this work, successful candidates will be required to a Disclosure and Barring Service Check.

Confidentiality

The ability to respect Grace’s privacy is fundamental to this position. All matters related to Grace’s condition are to be treated as confidential and are not to be disclosed to a third party. As this employment is based in the family’s private home is is inevitable that on occasion the carers will become privy to certain matters relating to the personal life and business affairs of Grace’s family. These too should be treated with the utmost confidentiality and, wherever possible, the carers should avoid coming into contact with the family’s personal belonging and correspondence .