First Thank you so much for this site, it's so informative and the best I have found so far. Looking back over incidents and accidents it is now clear that my Dad has had vascular demetia since 1996. In 2005 my mum eventually got a diagnosis for him.
I have found many gaps in the system that people can fall through and wow, there sure is a lot of hands to pass on the book. Where it will land is with the people who love and know the individual. Mum wants to know where she can get training to help my Dad as she is the one that lives with him, there seem to be a lot of training schemes for organisations but not for the people who live 24/7 with the individual involved.
In a way it's been a privalige to see the unfolding of my dad. I always thought he was a brussant Irish man with bad manners and unbending ways but now I see a gentler side. I've watched my children grow and put on layers of knowledge and personality as they grew older, and as a mother I always knew what lay beneath those layers, now I'm seeing this happen in reverse with him, and I can see my Dad is beautiful. We as a family can move my Dad, but the carers who come in from local authority are not allowed to because of their backs. They used to get him out of bed to sit in the living room via his wheel chair, but after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversery and being a bit enebriated he was too tired to weight bare the next day and all the "powers that be" decided that to protect their carers backs (Handling and Moving you know) that he would no longer be got out of bed. Since then my 74 year old mother has been transferring my dad from bed to chair, with Dad's help of course, on a daily basis. (Dad can do the Crab walk, a special lingo between him and her).
A hoist has been brought in now, more space in my parents home that the "powers that be" have taken over, not for my Dad, but for the carer's backs. My Dad can stand quite well. We do this daily with him, we don't want him to lose his legs through lack of use. I have a question, where in an assessment does the patient come in, where are their needs taken into account, doesn't an assessor have to be medically qualified and impartial to the "provided carers" needs and have someone qualified to speak for the patient. Bad backs are to be avoided I know but at what cost to my dad. Mum and Dad want to enjoy what time they have left, they can still laugh from time to time, they still love each other. In my Mum's words, they aint dead yet. They are aware that they need to adapt so far but want to choose what goes and what stays. I don't think they're wrong.
I have found many gaps in the system that people can fall through and wow, there sure is a lot of hands to pass on the book. Where it will land is with the people who love and know the individual. Mum wants to know where she can get training to help my Dad as she is the one that lives with him, there seem to be a lot of training schemes for organisations but not for the people who live 24/7 with the individual involved.
In a way it's been a privalige to see the unfolding of my dad. I always thought he was a brussant Irish man with bad manners and unbending ways but now I see a gentler side. I've watched my children grow and put on layers of knowledge and personality as they grew older, and as a mother I always knew what lay beneath those layers, now I'm seeing this happen in reverse with him, and I can see my Dad is beautiful. We as a family can move my Dad, but the carers who come in from local authority are not allowed to because of their backs. They used to get him out of bed to sit in the living room via his wheel chair, but after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversery and being a bit enebriated he was too tired to weight bare the next day and all the "powers that be" decided that to protect their carers backs (Handling and Moving you know) that he would no longer be got out of bed. Since then my 74 year old mother has been transferring my dad from bed to chair, with Dad's help of course, on a daily basis. (Dad can do the Crab walk, a special lingo between him and her).
A hoist has been brought in now, more space in my parents home that the "powers that be" have taken over, not for my Dad, but for the carer's backs. My Dad can stand quite well. We do this daily with him, we don't want him to lose his legs through lack of use. I have a question, where in an assessment does the patient come in, where are their needs taken into account, doesn't an assessor have to be medically qualified and impartial to the "provided carers" needs and have someone qualified to speak for the patient. Bad backs are to be avoided I know but at what cost to my dad. Mum and Dad want to enjoy what time they have left, they can still laugh from time to time, they still love each other. In my Mum's words, they aint dead yet. They are aware that they need to adapt so far but want to choose what goes and what stays. I don't think they're wrong.
