My Caregiver Story: Cecilia Bertogal

Meet Cecilia, one of Royal Homecare's devoted live-in caregivers, hailing from France. Having arrived in Ireland in 2022, she embarked on her journey with Royal Homecare, committed to providing compassionate live-in support. After the loss of her cherished client, Cecilia extended her care to John and Jerusha in County Dublin in 2023.

With over 15 years of invaluable healthcare experience, Cecilia's background spans diverse settings, including the Military hospital in France, Nursing Homes, and presently, Homecare. Her profound passion lies in aiding those often overlooked in society, particularly the vulnerable. Specializing in senior care, Cecilia strives to deliver assistance imbued with dignity, ensuring her clients' happiness remains paramount.

We are honored to present a guest blog authored by Cecilia, offering insights into her life as a live-in caregiver with Royal Homecare and the meaningful ways she enriches her clients' lives each day.

Hello, dear caregivers, clients and supporters of Royal Homecare! My name is Cecilia and I am delighted to share my experiences and insights as a live- in carer here in Ireland. Join me on this journey as I give you an insight into the challenging but rewarding world of caregiving with Royal Homecare.

My Daily Tasks and Responsibilities:

As a live-in caregiver, no two days are ever the same. From assisting with personal care routines to administering medications and providing companionship, my responsibilities encompass a wide range of tasks. I am grateful to be able to accompany my clients in their own home with kindness, non-judgment and respect for their dignity, unfortunate things that are almost impossible today in most health structures.

I am very lucky to have been chosen to work as a live-in caregiver by an adorable couple who had a professional life very rich in experiences through numerous travels and therefore very interesting. The gentleman lived in my country of origin, France and therefore speaks my language fluently; he is also passionate about mountains just like me! So it’s the perfect match! The lady who has a very young spirit is also remarkably kind and understanding and sometimes plays the role of my English teacher!

Each morning starts with hygiene care for the gentleman, then having breakfast together, then we talk about the organization of the day and the help that I can possibly provide for their well-being and the running of the house. Then comes the gentleman’s walk to maintain his mobility as long as possible. It is truly a privileged moment where we observe nature, the changes made in the neighbourhood, and our almost daily meetings with the neighbour’s dog or the neighbour’s children who look at us and greet us from their window. Our morning routine is usually very much the same but in the afternoon and evening, things can vary but we try to stay on track with a schedule.

Challenges and Rewards

Of course this job is full of challenges and forces us to draw on the best in ourselves. Fortunately, I still have the important support of Monica in Royal Homecare who helps us meet these challenges. This is why the rewards of being a live in caregiver far outweigh. Seeing this couple kept at home happy and safe is a great source of joy for me and gives me real motivation to continue as long as possible to ensure their well-being. All these moments of daily life shared together are very precious gifts and will remain indelible in my memory. It is this type of comprehensive and personalised care for the person that I have been looking for since obtaining my health care assistant diploma in 2009.

Support and Growth

At Royal Homecare, I am grateful to be part of a company that respects the carer and the client equally. We have access to numerous in-house training courses to help us both personally and professionally. We also have meetings called Virtual Coffee Meetings so that we can meet with other caregivers at Royal and share about our profession. This is very beneficial and also prevents us from having the feeling of being professionally isolated. I therefore feel perfectly supported in my work and I can look forward to a promising and bright future regarding this live-in-carer profession.

After 15 years of experience as a caregiver in many and varied units of hospital medicine as well as within various health structures and specialized living spaces but also after a position in the health service of the army of my country; I have never been able to find such better and perfect professional fulfilment than what I find in working as a live-in-carer. The fact of being able to treat and help people while respecting the singularity of all their fundamental needs was for me an essential thing; Individual lifestyle habits are scrupulously respected in this work. Nothing is more fulfilling than being able to really apply this on a daily basis in my care. I only have one regret…not knowing about this type of job before!

If you are interested in joining Royal Homecare a live-in caregiver or would like to find out more about it, please get in touch!