INSPIRATION: Janet Young visits up to ten senior citizens in Dunbar each day. Picture: Esme AllenEDINBURGH, Scotland (Edinburgh Evening News), February 9, 2008:
At the age of 80, Janet Young could be forgiven for wanting to put her feet up. But cooking, cleaning and caring for those less advanced in years is all in a day's work for Scotland's oldest home help.
Starting work at 7.30am, the grandmother can make up to ten visits to senior citizens in the East Lothian town of Dunbar each day, getting them washed and ready for breakfast and running errands, before returning in the evening to make their dinner.
Her oldest client is 96, but many of them are several years younger than the woman who cares for them.
Known as Cissie to her friends, the pensioner has worked as a carer for five-and-a- half years after finding retirement a bore.
She said: "I'm on my own and have been a widow for 20 years, so it gives me a lot of free time. I enjoy the work and it gets me out of the house. I'm not into pensioners' meetings or day clubs.
"I had a huge big house and then I moved to a smaller place. After a month, I thought, 'what am I going to do? I'm going out of my mind'."
After celebrating her birthday on Thursday, Cissie will today be the guest of honour at a huge party in her hometown.
Despite being old enough to be the grandmother of some of her colleagues, she says fitting in hasn't been a problem. "It doesn't bother me at all. They just tell me not to retire too soon, because they like having me around.
"The clients are all in my sort of age group and I can relate to them. We can talk about things that happened years ago. I think a lot of them open up a lot more because we have lots in common. You get a lot of job satisfaction in knowing you're a help to people – people that are not well and can't get out very much."
After running a newsagents in Dunbar's East Links for 20 years with late husband Robert, Cissie then single-handedly ran a guesthouse for 14 years as a widow. After that, she could have been forgiven for wanting a quiet life. But her new-foundrole as a lady of leisure just wasn't for her.
"I have a sister and brothers – they all think I'm crazy. But I don't feel that I'm ready to put my feet up just yet.
"I'm lucky I'm still quite fit and able to work. Quite often when I go into people's homes they are incapacitated, so I thank God every day that I have my health."
By Chris Marshall
© 2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing
