The Cooking Challenge
Patrick lives in a Unisson shared living home. Support worker, Sarah, usually assists Patrick with activities out and about in the community, but during the Greater Sydney lockdown, she was able to assist him with more domestic activities in the home.
Patrick had, for years, been observing support workers as they cooked meals and Sarah encouraged him to be more independent and to learn to prepare meals for himself, with minimal assistance.
One morning, Patrick asked for an egg, toast and onion breakfast. Sarah was able to guide him to collect the various ingredients – eggs from the fridge, toast from the store room (unfortunately there was no onion). When Sarah asked Patrick, “What do we do next?”, he replied “Crack the eggs.” Patrick fetched a bowl from the cupboard and with just a little encouragement, he confidently cracked the eggs into the bowl.
Sarah continued to ask Patrick for the next steps and he plugged the toaster in, turned it on and placed the bread in it. He remembered that the eggs needed milk, got a fork and started to whisk the eggs. Sarah and Patrick found some ham in the fridge and added this to the menu. He turned on the stove with Sarah’s help to identify the correct element and poured the egg mixture into the frypan. According to Sarah, “I was smiling from ear as he knew exactly how to do this for himself. It was such a beautiful moment to share with him.”
Patrick got a wooden spoon and scrambled the eggs. Then he decided to add the ham to the mixture. “I told him how amazing his breakfast looked and asked if he could cook me some scrambled eggs. He laughed and said ‘joking', explained Sarah. I gave Pat the opportunity to show me if he could make it, and he absolutely shined in the kitchen.”.
We love to support our clients in learning new every day skills. Take a look at our Programs of Support activities and see if one jumps out at you.
