Yesterday I bumped into an old school acquaintance of mine, and it quickly became apparent that her Mum had Dementia & had gone into a care home about 8 weeks ago (in Saxmundham, Suffolk). Her daughter had nothing but praise for the care home and its staff. She said her mum had settled in about 2 weeks (i.e. no tears after the 1st 2 weeks. Initially, she got upset when her visitors left.)
Mum no longer recognised her daughter in the conventional way, but knew her as a frequent & welcome visitor. She had made friends easily with some staff members and some other residents, and now seemed to regard them as her family (knew no one's names, but cheerfully calls everyone "Dear"!) with no recall of having ever lived anywhere else.
I asked her (the daughter) if she had had much difficulty finding a suitable place, and she said she had looked at 3 in Suffolk; another equally good one was at Sudbury, but it was full at the time. The third was less convenient (to the family) for visiting, and was also full at the time.
I also asked her about the quality & availability of homecare in our area. 'Pretty good' was the reply, in co-operation with what family members could do as well.
I know that not everybody has favourable reports & experiences to relate, but felt I should log this in the interests of balance. In many spheres of life, it is often the horror stories and controversial things which take the headlines. Speaking as someone who has yet (if ever) to get to the stage of seriously looking at a care home for my Mum (early stage so far) I found it a great relief to get a 'real-life' happy ending story in my immediate locality. (The expression "Happy Ending" being relative to other aspects & developments of dementia, of course)
Mum no longer recognised her daughter in the conventional way, but knew her as a frequent & welcome visitor. She had made friends easily with some staff members and some other residents, and now seemed to regard them as her family (knew no one's names, but cheerfully calls everyone "Dear"!) with no recall of having ever lived anywhere else.
I asked her (the daughter) if she had had much difficulty finding a suitable place, and she said she had looked at 3 in Suffolk; another equally good one was at Sudbury, but it was full at the time. The third was less convenient (to the family) for visiting, and was also full at the time.
I also asked her about the quality & availability of homecare in our area. 'Pretty good' was the reply, in co-operation with what family members could do as well.
I know that not everybody has favourable reports & experiences to relate, but felt I should log this in the interests of balance. In many spheres of life, it is often the horror stories and controversial things which take the headlines. Speaking as someone who has yet (if ever) to get to the stage of seriously looking at a care home for my Mum (early stage so far) I found it a great relief to get a 'real-life' happy ending story in my immediate locality. (The expression "Happy Ending" being relative to other aspects & developments of dementia, of course)