Care staff from the local Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford Bluebird Care office recently took part in a very interesting training and awareness day on Palliative Care and Multiple Sclerosis.

The Palliative Care training was given by Bernie Brophy from the local Carlow/Kilkenny HomeCare Team. Carers found the presentation very beneficial with everyone keen to learn more about this important area. The afternoon session was hosted by the MS Society with a detailed and interesting presentation on MS and some guidance on how to Care for people with MS.

Brian Egan Managing Director of the local Bluebird Care office said that there was great feedback from everyone about the training. This forms part of the varied Bluebird Care Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford training programme. Aside from the mandatory Induction & Orientation workshop and Manual Handling and Patient Moving Training the local office has held training workshops in the following areas over the last year : Dementia & Alzheimer’s Care, Disability Awareness, Parkinson’s, Motor Neurones and now Palliative Care and Multiple Sclerosis.

On a national basis Bluebird Care are currently looking at rolling out new training initiatives for Carers throughout the country as training continues to provide a key focus for Bluebird Care as all offices continue to deliver a high standard of Care for people of all ages and needs in their own homes and in the community.

Bluebird Care are a leading Home Care provider with offices throughout Ireland providing Care on a private basis and as a preferred provider for the HSE. Flexible Care visits are provided from hourly care to 24/7 Live In Care with an individualised Care Plan completed for each client.

Bluebird Care Kilkenny recently provided some fundraising for their local Alzheimer’s Association. This was based on the total score in the All Ireland Hurling Final where Bluebird Care contributed €10 per point scored and Michael Fennelly who just received the GAA GPA Hurler of the year award was on hand to present the cheque for €420.
Managing Director of Bluebird Care Kilkenny Brian Egan commented ‘Bluebird Care provide Care for people with a range of different needs throughout Ireland and so work with a lot of people who suffer with Dementia and Alzheimer’s. We see the great work being done by the Alzheimers Association locally so we are glad to be able to help out with some fundraising for them.’

The Bluebird Care Waterford/Kilkenny office has scheduled two Dementia Training workshops for all Care Staff . The training will be provided by Deirdre Lenihan of DML Nursing Services. Deirdre has more than 20 years experience in Care of the Elderly, Dementia and Challenging Behaviours in both the private and public healthcare sectors.

Training is a key focus area for Care staff in Bluebird Care and the Dementia training follows on from the very successful Disability Awareness training workshops which took  place recently. Training and upskilling of staff is hugely important and ensures that carers are competent and confident when providing Care in the home, according to Brian Egan the Managing Director of the Bluebird Care Waterford/Kilkenny office.  Brian continued to say that ‘The Dementia training is just one module of our continuous training programme but its a very important area so hopefully all staff will benefit from it’ . There are currently more than 44,000 people in Ireland with dementia, with the number expected to be in excess of 104,000 by 2036 unless there is a medical breakthrough so it is important that Care Staff can have the opportunity to increase their knowledge in this area.