I went to a meeting yesterday at the major hospital in this area. I had been invited by the local Carers official, as the committee did not have any carers on it.
The aim is that they meet every Friday for 1 hour in the afternoon, to attempt to improve hospitalisation experiences for people with dementia.
So far after 20 weeks of meetings they had come up with the idea of a "This is Me" binder to be completed by carer or PWD, to be taken with them into hospital - this was now being tested.
We had the usual rigmarole, of " Let's Go Round the Table and Introduce Ourselves" and without fail they were all smiling and saying " I am......., and I am glad it is Friday, it's been a busy week. I do........." I was near the end of the group, and said " I am........ I am a carer, and I don't care that it's Friday, because today will be the same as tomorrow, and Sunday and the day after that"
I got some really annoyed looks, and a deathly silence.
They asked me to share my thoughts on being a carer saying I had 20 mins. So I did - by they time we had done a flow chart of the admittance of a person to the hospital who had dementia - it was time to go round the table again for an evaluation of the session...
Coming home it struck me that they were all very worthy and dedicated, but had not got a clue as the the problems when a PWD is in hospital, and anyway, it was a nice quiet way to spend an hour or so, before it was time to leave on a Friday afternoon for their weekend.
Am I being too cynical?
The aim is that they meet every Friday for 1 hour in the afternoon, to attempt to improve hospitalisation experiences for people with dementia.
So far after 20 weeks of meetings they had come up with the idea of a "This is Me" binder to be completed by carer or PWD, to be taken with them into hospital - this was now being tested.
We had the usual rigmarole, of " Let's Go Round the Table and Introduce Ourselves" and without fail they were all smiling and saying " I am......., and I am glad it is Friday, it's been a busy week. I do........." I was near the end of the group, and said " I am........ I am a carer, and I don't care that it's Friday, because today will be the same as tomorrow, and Sunday and the day after that"
I got some really annoyed looks, and a deathly silence.
They asked me to share my thoughts on being a carer saying I had 20 mins. So I did - by they time we had done a flow chart of the admittance of a person to the hospital who had dementia - it was time to go round the table again for an evaluation of the session...
Coming home it struck me that they were all very worthy and dedicated, but had not got a clue as the the problems when a PWD is in hospital, and anyway, it was a nice quiet way to spend an hour or so, before it was time to leave on a Friday afternoon for their weekend.
Am I being too cynical?