Health and care worker

Photo: ScandinavianStockPhoto, Alexander Raths.

Marianne’s day at work

My name is Marianne, and I provide home care services. My job consists of travelling around to people who need help in the municipality where I live. It is mostly the elderly who need help with housework or personal care, but sometimes younger people need help because they have, for example, been injured so they can’t manage on their own.

Sometimes I have to make a number of visits in one day, so there’s a lot to do. My tasks are varied. I might make breakfast, for example, or light a fire, wash up, do the dusting, hoover and wash the floor, do laundry and change the bed linens. Sometimes I do grocery shopping, and I bring dinner to those who need it. We get the dinners from the nursing home here in the municipality.

Some people need help to wash themselves or take a shower, and some people only need me to come by to make sure they’re all right. It’s very important to take the time to talk with the elderly, too, even though I have a lot of visits to make. Some people get several visits on the same day.

The home care service is on call all day and night. The municipality has hired cars for us, and we drive around to pay visits at night, too. A person might need attention, help to go to the toilet, or to be turned over in bed. The home care worker is responsible for dispensing medicine.

Most of the patients I meet are pleasant and grateful, but some of them can be aggressive. Some are so ill that they should be in a nursing home, but most people want to live at home, where they have spent their whole lives.

I like my job very much, although there is time pressure and many people who need help. There is always someone who needs us, and we come – through all kinds of weather and driving conditions, and at any time of the day or night. I think that’s wonderful.

The home care service

• Home-based services comprise care for people who live in their own homes or in sheltered accommodation.
• The aim of home care service is to provide help for individuals and families in situations where they cannot perform the necessary tasks, such as housework and personal care, themselves.
• The political goal in Norway is that more and more elderly and disabled people should be able to live at home.