Friends launch care business
Jan 14 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
A FORMER primary school teacher who gave up work to look after her ill husband has teamed up with her best friend to start a business in North Tyneside providing specialist care for people with neurological conditions.
Louise Nugent used her experience of caring for husband Scott, who suffers from the rare degenerative brain disease spinocerebellar ataxia, to head up At Your Side with friend and business partner Lisa Bryden.
Scott underwent stem cell treatment last year, after friends, family and Journal readers raised £36,000 to send him to China for the controversial therapy, which has alleviated some of the symptoms of the disease that claimed the life of his mother and his first son, Oliver, when he was just eight months old.
In addition to ataxia, the agency also trains its staff to care for people suffering from other neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, and neuromuscular conditions like motor neurone disease. It also focuses on elderly clients and those with sensory impairments.
Louise, 37, who has a three-year-old son George, said: “From my experience, we’ve used carers in the past from various organisations but they haven’t had the knowledge of these conditions.”
Louise and Lisa, also 37, who have been friends since primary school, have attended a number of specialist training sessions with charities and societies set up to support people living with neurodegenerative and neuromuscular conditions. This knowledge is then passed on to their own staff.
“The training lasts sometimes a day, sometimes half a day.
“We’re talking to the experts in that field, they explain about the illness, its symptoms, how it manifests and develops,” said Louise.
Louise remains Scott’s primary carer and also draws on her experience as a teacher to manage the agency, while Lisa, who has a master’s degree in business administration, uses the people skills she obtained during more than a decade working at Norwich Union insurance in Newcastle.
Lisa, who opted for voluntary redundancy from the insurance giant which last year moved 200 Newcastle-based jobs overseas, said: “I wanted a career change, where I could see the benefits and the difference I was making, something tangible.”
At Your Side employs five staff but is looking for additional carers to join the agency, which currently has clients in Newcastle and North Tyneside.
Lisa said: “Once we’re established, once our name’s known, we hope to cover more of the North-East. But we don’t want to run before we can walk.”
To find out more about At Your Side, visit the website at www.atyourside.org.uk.
