Sorry about
yesterday. Helen arrived just at blog-writing time, drenched by a summer
shower. She was cycling to save petrol-money. She got dry, she got home to her
car, and – much later – her husband David got here from Thessaloniki after a long,
long evening in Amsterdam while EasyJet kept postponing the final leg of his
journey first by one hour then by another. They’re gone off to Strathardle today with
their dog, I hope.
I didn’t get any
knitting or any exercises done yesterday, either.
Today I did a set
of exercises before breakfast, as I used to do at Cramond. Archie came to see
me. We failed to get around the garden. It was blowing fairly hard, and it was
late in the morning by then, when the bloom has gone off me. He is doing a
placement in a dementia ward (as part of his degree course in nursing) and is
finding it tough going – not an aspect of mental nursing that he thinks he
wants to pursue.
And I’ve finished
the increases for the first Lilias Day sleeve. There are about 4 ½ inches to go
and I really must look for a short circular tomorrow.
There was a mildly
interesting passage in the Times this morning, lifted from a book, about the
author’s experience working in a care home. The considerable differences
between it and Cramond came down to staff numbers and accommodation. The author
had to get his charges up out of bed, dressed and into the dining room by 9 a.m. We had breakfast in our
rooms and, if preferred, in our pyjamas whenever we wanted, except that there was nothing hot after 10 a.m. (Fair
enough.) At Cramond, a lot of people spent a lot of time – even, in many cases,
all of it – in their rooms where the individual television sets were bigger
than the one here in Drummond Place. At the place described in the Times,
everybody was marshalled into a common room after breakfast and left with the
television. There were lots of common spaces at Cramond with
comfortable-looking furniture, empty of people. I spent some time in the Cinema
Room with one of my table-companions, watching the French Open. We were the only
two.
I found that article interesting. He said that one member of staff had to be in the lounge with the residents in case of falls, although whether that was to warn the unsteady not to try walking or whether it was to help them up if they fell he did not say. There certainly was not that level of constant supervision where my mother was, although they were all expected to eat in the dining room.
ReplyDeleteYes, my father was in a really nice care home last year, with individual TVs and breakfast when and where you like option, but there were certain residents who were corralled in communal areas by day (with TV, yes indeed, but staff tried to tailor the channel to the tastes of those in that area) because of the falls risk. Dad was one of them as he could not stand alone and could not remember that this was so. But someone would always help him to retire to his room if he wished. The staff were very good to him....
DeleteJennyS
We have found that each Home is different. Some like residents to have breakfast in their rooms, some prefer them in the dining room. The habit of sitting everyone round a communal TV appals me. Many Homes used to have 'Activity directors' but the funding for them seems to have quietly disappeared. I think the more expensive homes encourage more 'freedom'. Sadly it often comes down to the staffing level, and as one of the Carers said to me....'I could earn more stacking shelves in Tesco'. Carers have to be devoted to their job I think.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, care homes vary widely. Cramond sounds like a dream, compared to most reports. A communal TV would be bad. Who controls what channel is on? Who controls the volume? What if a resident hates TV? etc.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on doing exercises, and before breakfast - I'm impressed.
Perhaps while you seek the short circular you might find some other knitting that had wandered off. Maybe you could start a written list of where such things are.
A list! What a good idea (although mine might be shamefully long). I immediately heard an earworm 'I've got a little list, on knitting that I've missed' going round and round in my head.
ReplyDelete