After a family tragedy, two Greystanes residents have decided to tackle the healthcare crisis by providing at-home care to those who need it most.
When Priya Sharma lost her father to cancer last year, she realised just how important it is to have services that care for people in need from the comfort of their own home.
“It was a really hard time for us, and the amount of services we received from the hospital made me realise the need to have more people serve the community and help others in need, it inspired me to be one of those people,” she told Parra News.
Together with her husband Sajit, Priya set out to start Nurse Next Door Parramatta, officially launching the home care service last month.
“I love caring about people, I admire people… and I’m like this is what we should do,” Priya said.
“My mum works for a nursing home as well and all my life we’d just go there once a year just to spend time with the elderly residents. It kind of bought all the childhood memories back.”
Nurse Next Door Parramatta provides care services, including dementia and Alzheimer’s care, assistance with activities of daily living, nursing care as well as companionship, seven days a week, 24 hours day.
It serves the community from Wetherill Park all the way to North Rocks and everything in between, including Greystanes, Westmead, Carlingford and Pemulway.
Despite just being launched, Priya said Nurse Next Door Parramatta has already racked up quite a few clients, describing the experience so far as being “amazing.”
“Last week we saw one of the clients and their mum loves to go to the club, so we knew which clubs to take her [to]. We know the area very well,” she said.
“We basically are very passionate about the service we provide as well, so we don’t call our caregivers ‘givers’, we call our caregivers ‘care angels’.”
The Sharma’s mission is to offer elderly residents and people with special needs the opportunity to continue living independently at home, receive the medical nursing care they need and to participate in the community safely.
To find out more about Nurse Next Door Parramatta go to http://www.nursenextdoor.com.au.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.