Dementia Care Cheltenham
Here at Dementia Doulas Ltd, we provide respite care services to clients with Dementia, with the aim to support the whole family. We are very different from traditional carers as we are not a care agency. Instead, our mission is to provide friendship, stimulation and safety for our clients to ensure they have the best possible quality of life while living at home. We give the family the opportunity to rest and recharge while knowing and trusting their loved one is safe and happy with our Doula. For Dementia care in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Stroud, Bishop’s Cleeve and the surrounding areas, get in touch with us today.
Founder Mary Merheim was nominated for Best Newcomer at Care and Support West Awards 2020.
Home Care
Alzheimer’s Care
Respite Services
24 Hour Support
“Care of the vulnerable” is a keyworker role that will continue throughout this crisis.
Dementia Doulas Ltd understands your anxieties at this time. We work with you to find exactly the type of care you are comfortable with. Because our Doulas do not have multiple clients you can rest assured that we will keep transmission possibilities to a minimum. If you wish we have masks with Perspex windows, gloves, aprons and can even bring changes of clothes with us. If you prefer a more relaxed approach we can work with you to achieve this through detailed risk assessments.
We help you and your loved ones live your best lives and constantly monitor governmental and local guidelines. We aim to keep our clients at home for as long as possible if that is your wish.
Because of the fear of infection and local ‘lockdowns’ preventing you from visiting your loved one in a Care Home, we have also created a new service for our most vulnerable clients:
Alongside our usual ‘one Doula per family’ service, we also are able to offer up to 24 hour care contracts to keep your loved ones out of Care Homes for even longer/forever. We work around any Care Package that may be in place and provide you with the confidence that your relative is looked after on a 1:1 basis constantly. Within this service we keep the team as small as possible for consistency and safety.
Becoming a Doula
Are you caring, compassionate and reliable? Do you think you have what it takes to be a companion for someone with Dementia? If so, get in touch with us to find out about joining our team.
When is it appropriate to use Dementia Doulas Ltd?
- When a loved one needs additional support with their daily activities, for example: cooking/preparing food, making and receiving phone calls, shopping/using money, visiting friends, going for a walk or decision making.
- When a spouse has died or gone into hospital/care. Memory problems, loneliness and confusion surface when a companion is no longer there 24 hours a day. Some people need our support to get through the days, to keep in touch with family and friends and to face the future in the short or long term.
- When a family care giver needs a break. Everyone deserves a break from time to time. If you are looking after someone with Dementia, this is even more necessary to ensure you don’t lose yourself. This can be anything from a few, regular hours a week to trips away to be with other family or even to escape alone! To have hours/days to look forward to is so important.
- After a medical episode. After any spell in hospital it is often tricky to re-establish a home routine. We can provide 24 hour care initially then decrease our hours if it becomes appropriate. Sometimes discharge from hospital or care home is entirely dependent on there being full time support in the home.
- At the end of life. For some of our Doulas, their expertise and passion is in supporting the family in the final weeks, days or hours of a loved one’s life. We can provide practical help with maintaining a vigil or running errands as well as giving mindful, emotional support. The experience of having a Doula can make this difficult time a lot less traumatic for all involved and even become a beautiful, peaceful passing.
What our customers are saying
- Mary provided end of life care for my Aunt and I wish I could give 6 stars. She simply walked into a stressful, difficult situation and defused it with aplomb, enabling Aunt Joy to enjoy in her own words the VIP experience and stay in her own home. Mary is pragmatic, fun, capable, unflappable and if you enjoy racing provides good insight into Cheltenham runners. She felt like a member of the family straightaway and worked well with all of Team Joy, as we called ourselves.Ian Merriman3/18/2022We needed help for a much needed holiday. Mary was fantastic, really good company and support for my elderly Mother, to the point that Mum felt like she had been on her own holiday! Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. Mary is professional, helpful, kind and considerate and has a very good understanding of the elderly and of Dementia. We will definitely be booking her again.Rachel Boydell-Padley11/23/2021Mary, thanks so much for your care for Allan over the last 2 weeks and at such short notice.. You have been a real godsend, not sure that we’d have stayed sane without your overnight support. We were able to sleep in peace knowing that Allan was in very safe hands. This gave us a family the chance to decide on next steps in a calm and reasoned way.Rupert Cox10/30/2021
- My trust could not have been better placed. It is with huge thanks and a very warm heart I write this review for Mary and Dementia Doulas. Without Mary the last year of my Pa’s life and our family’s life would have been very different. Mary bought an invaluable level of experience, care, humanity, ever present support, problem solving and much needed laughter to what could have been the saddest and most difficult year of our lives. Pa adored her… we all did. My biggest worry was the thought of allowing someone into our world, whom we had not know for ever who would help care for Pa.. He was at his most physically vulnerable and now with dementia, his most mentally vulnerable too. The reality we found through Mary and Dementia Doulas was not what I had expected at all, she was so loving and her care so personally tailored to Pa and to us that my concerns were never realised. My trust could in fact, not have been better placed. We found her to be not only a very experienced and efficient Dementia Doula but on a personal level, to be a trustworthy, loyal, loving and sensitive. Mary is a star… “an angel” as my Pa would say and I would have no hesitation recommending her. Nothing is a problem, there are only solutions waiting to happen. Thank you Mary, what a blessing your were to us all. XxxS Gallacher9/28/2021Fantastic Care I would like to thank Dementiadoulas and especially Helen for the respectful love and care she gives to an elderly friend and neighbour of mine. Since loosing his wife of 60 years and having had a stroke within the last two years, Helen has been his constant help, support and friend. Helen and I have become friends and I couldn’t thank her more for the amazing care she gives 🤗Catherine Watson3/23/2021
- If you have a loved one with Dementia you will understand the problems juggling their care and that of your own family and also yourself. A Doula takes on so much and gives the family peace of mind, the results are that every one is happier, healthier and so much better for it. Mary spent some time with my mum before she went into a home and she was absolutely lovely, you can see the connection that was made from the photos. I highly recommend Dementia Doulas, it’s a fantastic and much needed service and run by a lady who is passionate about what she does and that shows.Sam Johnstone9/27/2020We engaged Dementia’s Doulas’ service for 2 years, I was really impressed with the activities and Mary’s determination to bring familiarity and fun on bad days as well as the good ones. Frontal lobe Dementia is tough, the confusion levels and changes in emotion are unpredictable and challenging, our Doula Mary was always a step ahead, calm and a trusted friend to Dad which enhanced his quality of life during a challenging period of mental health decline helping us to get the best from him and make some more wonderful memories.Georgina Read9/27/2020The perfect solution for dementia and end of life care. Mary was such a help to us during my father’s final months, providing the support we needed to bring him home after a long time in nursing homes and always making my dad smile. The Doula approach means that care is completely tailored to the client’s (and their family’s) needs.Gillian Castle9/27/2020
- In these difficult times it is comforting to know that there is someone available to lend a caring hand that is not time restrained and whose name does not change on a weekly basis.If its dementia, alzheimers or end of life care I can recommend Mary’s team for their commitment to your family in its time of need.Steve Barrett7/27/2020
Contact Dementia Doulas Ltd
If you need Dementia care in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, give us a call today to discuss your requirements with the team.