Caring for my dying dad helped me find true calling in life
Published date | 13 March 2024 |
Publication title | Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser |
Now, Leonard - who himself became a father on his first day in his current job - hopes that his own dad would be proud that he is one of an increasing number of men who are entering the social care sector, and recognising it as a passport to an attractive and fulfilling career with tangible prospects.
"As a young man growing up, I never had an opportunity to give much love to my dad," said Leonard, who was 25 when his father died in Nigeria at the age of just 55.
"Single-handedly, I took care of him until the last minute when he passed. The only way I feel I can give that love now is by coming into social care."
" When Leonard arrived in the UK in 2021, thefirst job he applied for was a position with Home Instead. B u t because he did not have a car, he didn't meet the criteria.
He soon accepted a job as a night shift worker at a Blantyre care home. Deciding it was not for him, he bought a set of wheels and once again approached award-winning Home Instead - a firm that positions itself as 'an employer, not an agency.'
' Following an interview, he was elated to be ofered a job. While shadowing a colleague on his first day, he received a call from University Hospital Wishaw, requesting that he urgently make his way to the maternity unit.
There, his wife, Esther, was begging surgeons to hold off her C-section until her husband's arrival. Leonard was in theatre just in time to see their first child, Natele, enter the world.
Leonard, 35, is now firmly established with Home Instead, visiting his regular clients at their own homes in East Kilbride, Toryglen, Newton Mearns and Giffnock.
"It takes a special kind of person to be a man and a carer," explained Leonard, who lives in Hamilton with Esther and their seven-month-old son.
"You have to be patient and loving. Sometimes clients can be in a good mood, sometimes they can be in a bad mood. And sometimes you come across clients who are angry and frustrated, but you don't take it to heart.
"They are not happy, seeing themselves in that position. I witnessed all that with my dad, before he passed. Nobody wants to see themselves being taken care of, being changed, being fed."
Leonard continued: "To be a good carer, you have to know what clients love, and the things that are familiar to them. I have one client who says...
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