This week we caught up with Mazie, the first-ever client of Papillon Home Care.
We have been supporting Maisie since 2018 and she has built up a lovely relationship with both carers and office staff.
Mazie started our conversation by telling us how she was losing her memory, so we asked her to tell us about her life, knowing that this would give her some real happy times to remember.
Mazie was born with club feet and spent the first few years in a home for disabled children in Enfield, which she said was brilliant and a lovely home. At the age of 7, Mazie had surgery to correct her feet which enabled her to walk again.
A few years later during the war, Mazie was evacuated to Torquay. She recalls these as some of her fondest memories. She loved everything about Torquay – the walks, the beaches and had some of the best days of her life there, including her school years.
After the war, she moved to Folkestone and got a live-in job working with a physiotherapist. Her work was certainly varied, including paperwork, looking after the dogs, and generally helping out in all aspects of the work and home. She worked there for 27 years before becoming a cook at a local care home, finally moving to Dymchurch to work in another local care home.
She has lots of happy memories of her work and stayed there until she retired. She is still friends with her colleagues to this day.
Mazie got married in 1974 and recalled happy memories of her and her husband’s love of dogs; she still lives in the place they brought 47 years ago.
Mazie is a fiercely independent lady; despite now being a wheelchair user, she still does her own cooking and washing.
In 2017 Mazie started to need a little help, unfortunately the agency she chose had to closed so in 2018 she moved to Papillon Home Care and hasn’t looked back. She told us how she looks forward to her daily visits, the care staff support her with personal care, shopping and she said she couldn’t live without them.
“I really look forward to when the carers come, they are very kind and patient with me, I like all of them and cannot fault them.
I can be very forceful with how I like things, sometimes I like things a certain way and they are always there to help and understand me. I couldn’t live at home without their support.”
We asked Mazie what she would say to those who were worried about having care and carers in their home; she said “Just go for it, you couldn’t get better care, and you will love them.”
Mazie is an inspirational woman; despite being a wheelchair user she is determined to keep doing things for herself where she can. The Papillon team are there to support her with this and to enable her to remain in her own home where she has so many lovely memories of her late husband, pets and where her friends can come to visit her.
A smile never left Maisie’s face while chatting with us; we are so grateful that she shared her story with us.
Find out more about our homecare services or contact a member of our care team
