Tracey – car accident survivor living alone

Tracey was involved in a serious car accident.

After weeks recuperating in hospital, she returned home with her leg in a brace. It was a big brace that ran from the tip of her toes to the base of her hip.

Tracey described herself as being “in pretty bad state. I could not weight bear on my right leg at all”.

As someone who lived alone, this made even the simplest of tasks impossible.

In the early days – Tracey needed help to get out of bed and dressed in the morning. She needed help getting breakfast, lunch and dinner. She needed help getting to bed at night and help getting to the toilet throughout the day.

Her daughter and greatest support lived interstate with her young kids and, after visiting Perth to support her during her hospital stay, could not stay to help.

Tracey had many friends offering assistance – she was just not able to pull it all together and provide them with the guidance and information they needed to be able to look after her.

It was then that her daughter was told about the Gather Group technology.

She was able to set up an account and manage all of the administrative tasks even though she did not live close by. She invited all of Tracey’s friends and created the roster of all the care that was needed.

Tracey describes the support that has been coordinated as “an absolute wonder”.

Since returning home from hospital, Tracey has had assistance from so many people in so many ways – sharing dinner in the evening, lunch deliveries, help with breakfast, help dressing, laundry, taking her for a drive, washing the floors, bathroom cleaning and so on.

When asked what Tracey has appreciated most about the technology she says – “I like that those who wish to help are able to select an activity and participate. They are not just rostered on to do things they might not want to. Some of my friends just wanted to pop over and pay me a visit and I loved that we could roster these social catch ups too”.