Target Users

Doris: “Looking forward to Saturday when my family are visiting”

Key Characteristics: An elderly female stroke survivor, largely dependent on others for care and socialisation.

Doris is an 83 year old widow who lives with her son, who works full time and is often away from home for several days at a time on business. Her other son and family make a social visit every Saturday. She enjoys watching TV and socialising with friends in coffee shops. She sufferred several strokes four years ago, one of which has left her with partial paralysis of the right side. She cannot walk unaided, and uses a walking frame indoors, and a manual wheelchair outside the home, so she cannot leave the home unaided. She has full mental faculties and good sensory faculties, but has some paralysis on the right hand side, which restricts her mobility and restricts control of her hand, which means she cannot prepare food (though she can eat, one handed). She has difficulty using a TV remote control, and can not use a mobile phpne at all but can answer incoming calls on the landline phone effectively. Carers come three times a day to prepare and serve meals. After her stroke she lost confidence and joi de vivre but some of this is now returning.