Dementia Care; Kate shares her story on BBC Radio Gloucestershire
07 MarYesterday, we were touched to hear Kate Mackman’s experiences of finding care for her parents at Faithfull House in Cheltenham. She spoke movingly to Dominic Cotter on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, after having watched BBC Breakfast presenter Nina share her similar story of her father’s dementia on the TV news earlier in the day.
“My story began about 4 or 5 years ago with my mum. She started to forget things and have to write them down – the usual story really, with dementia. She became very very anxious and depressed.”
“It took a long time until we managed to get a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s for her (it was down to a critical care nurse who pushed for it and was wonderful). At the time my mum was a full time carer for my dad and I didn’t really know what to do – a bit like Nina’s story, she talked about not knowing what to do or where to go.
“I was very fortunate that, at that time, I saw an advert for Lilian Faithfull Care – I emailed them and they emailed me back really quickly and I spoke to a lovely lady who then visited us. Since that day, which was probably 2.5 years ago now, both of them moved into Faithfull House in Cheltenham and have been absolutely brilliantly cared for.”
“My dad suddenly passed away about 18 months ago and they have been incredible with mum. They moved her eventually onto the Bluebell Suite which is a special dementia care place as her illness progressed.”
“Sadly I don’t know that she knows I am there when I visit now, which is quite upsetting, but the staff are incredible and they make it not just wonderful for my mum but for me as well and I can’t thank them enough for that.”
Dominic Cotter responded, “I can hear the relief in your voice, I think many of us have been in similar situations. Was there a moment you felt guilty that you couldn’t do it all?”
“It was a huge feeling guilt, which I still have that a little bit wondering may if I could have done more for my parents, but there was no way as I have my own family and a full time job, just like Nina, so it was impossible. The relief when I went there (Faithfull House) and spoke to the staff and knowing it was the right place for them was huge and it enabled me to live my life relatively normally again and I knew they were safe…
Adam Garthwaite, a senior carer at The Bluebell Suite in Faithfull House then spoke about caring for those with dementia from a carers perspective;.
“I’ve been working at the charity for 9 years now, the ethos is brilliant and the care standard is amazing. We’ve all had training on how to deal with dementia, how to work with families…they always have 24 hour care, whenever they need us we are always there to give a helping hand. We are always in contact with families if anything changes – we keep in touch.”
“We do really care and we are there for the residents. We try and promote their independence as much as possible. We do lots of activities with the residents… take them out on trips and get them to reminisce. A lot of the residents here have amazing life stories, but as people with dementia can’t always tell us about their lives, families give us that information and we can sit down and reminisce with them – which is such an important thing for those with dementia.”