IN a virtual ceremony Frances Peake was named Carer of the Year (and guardian angel) in the Kütchenhaus Pride of Devon Awards 2020, writes Sophie Chamier.

With the current focus on NHS and care home workers, it’s good to shine a spotlight on one of many unsung support workers looking after people in their own homes.

Frances (Fran), 52, was nominated for the Carer of the Year award by Beverley Hopkins for taking care of her brother, Kevin Mears, at his home in Christow after he developed vascular dementia aged just 63.

Bev had described Fran as a ‘guardian angel’ and, tellingly, during the virtual awards ceremony (see the Radio Exe YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/32mZYt9 ) that’s the title that stuck – with the Radio Exe team, judges and sponsors alike.

Fran, 52, lives two doors down from Kevin’s former home and she started looking after him through her job with a local agency, Friendly Faces.

They specialise in helping the elderly and those with dementia to stay living at home for as long as possible and Social Services had recommended them to Bev and her sisters who were struggling to cope with their brother’s increasing needs.

‘In hindsight you realise that Kev was probably on the autistic spectrum,’ says Bev.

‘He always liked order and routine. As he got more ill and his routine got more limited he’d be knocking on Fran’s door morning, noon and night but she and her family were brilliant.

‘She started cooking his dinners and cutting them up for him as he liked to eat with his hands. He wouldn’t put milk in the fridge and it would go off in the cupboard so she’d freeze cartons full of diluted milk and use them to keep his actual milk cold.

‘She’d take his laundry home to do. And when he went wandering about on the roads in the dark, she’d go driving round to find him whatever time it was.

‘And the thing is, she was doing all this in her own time but I think that’s just in her nature – she’s amazing.’

Fran’s boss, Friendly Faces founder Claire Northmore, agrees: ‘Fran’s skills working with people with dementia are fantastic because she’s patient but she also has a knack for finding out what really matters to that person.

‘Then she uses that to try to give them the best quality of life possible.

‘A sense of routine is really important for someone with dementia as it helps them to keep their everyday skills going,’ explains Claire, who trained in dementia studies at Worcester University.

‘Going food shopping had become an important part of Kevin’s routine and with a little help he would choose his own things. Unfortunately, he’d forget that they had to be put in a trolley and paid for, so Fran and a colleague persuaded Tesco to let a security guard shadow them.

‘Then every time Kevin put something in his pocket they’d put a duplicate in the trolley so everything could be paid for at the till without any upset.

‘In the end we had to have Kev sectioned which was awful,’ concludes Bev.

‘Fran – bless her – was going to his place five or six times a day. I live in Exeter and my sister Sheri’s in Newton Abbot.

‘Our other sister Dawn (who has since passed away) was ill.

‘We didn’t have time to do all the things Fran did and he’d never have managed to stay at home for those last two years without her. He trusted her and would let her do things that no-one else could do.’

When asked if she ever struggled with Kevin’s restless energy and repetitive behaviour, Fran herself simply says: ‘Well he was a bit of a character,’ and then goes on to praise his family for being so supportive: ‘Whatever I asked for – such as a bell on his back door so I could hear him going out – they got it.

‘For years I was an auxiliary nurse,’ she explains, ‘But I always wanted to spend more time with the patients talking to them and getting to know them and that can’t be done in hospital of course, so this really is my dream job.’

In a sad twist of fate Kevin died unexpectedly on November 1, the day after we’d spoken to Bev, but she bravely chose to go ahead with this article as Kevin would have wanted Fran to get the recognition she deserves.