Unfortunately my mum went from an NHS mental health ward to a care home, and this happened within a space of a couple of months. I've come to terms with this, and I'm happy with the home. I've just been granted deputyship so, after paying out yet more money, I'll be able to access my mum's accounts to top up the care. All my mum's assets are divided equally between me and my sister in my mum's will. It's likely there's not going to be much left but it's my mum's money and, for me, it should be used to have her living in a home that I feel is a caring one.
The problem is, that quite a few of her things seem to have gone missing. The home informed me in the early days that she needed some shoes/slippers that she would be comfortable with and would keep on. Apparently my mum was often walking around in her socks, which she was used to doing at home. I spent abount £120 pounds on two pairs of shoes, and have never seen one pair since I dropped them off.
My mum's never been a person who wanted to acquire things, so most of the stuff in her room was only of value to the family. I'd taken things from her home that I hoped would take her back to earlier years. The thing that's really upset me today was that a 'mothers' day' card that I'd painted myself several years ago, and which she'd framed and put on her bedroom wall, was missing. It was one of the personal items I'd put in her room to try and make her feel at home. For some reason, what really affected me, was that the picture was missing, but the empty frame was still on her desk. Because it was a card anybody who looked inside would know that, but they'd have no way of knowing who it belonged to.
It's like you're desperate to provide a homely experience for the resident, but how can you if things are being taken? At the same time, would I rather have the doors open, allowing those in the EMI unit being able to have that degree of freedom to come and go, or doors being locked? I've decided that I'd definitely like a degree of freedom but, if I'd known then what I know now, I wouldn't put things in the room that have a sentimental value to me.
The problem is, that quite a few of her things seem to have gone missing. The home informed me in the early days that she needed some shoes/slippers that she would be comfortable with and would keep on. Apparently my mum was often walking around in her socks, which she was used to doing at home. I spent abount £120 pounds on two pairs of shoes, and have never seen one pair since I dropped them off.
My mum's never been a person who wanted to acquire things, so most of the stuff in her room was only of value to the family. I'd taken things from her home that I hoped would take her back to earlier years. The thing that's really upset me today was that a 'mothers' day' card that I'd painted myself several years ago, and which she'd framed and put on her bedroom wall, was missing. It was one of the personal items I'd put in her room to try and make her feel at home. For some reason, what really affected me, was that the picture was missing, but the empty frame was still on her desk. Because it was a card anybody who looked inside would know that, but they'd have no way of knowing who it belonged to.
It's like you're desperate to provide a homely experience for the resident, but how can you if things are being taken? At the same time, would I rather have the doors open, allowing those in the EMI unit being able to have that degree of freedom to come and go, or doors being locked? I've decided that I'd definitely like a degree of freedom but, if I'd known then what I know now, I wouldn't put things in the room that have a sentimental value to me.
