Welcome to the second of my seven blog posts for UK Dementia Awareness Week 2015. This year’s Dementia Awareness Week centres around the theme of doing something new for people with dementia, under the mantra that ‘Life doesn’t have to end when…
Tag: personal care
A helping hand
When a loved one is living with dementia, it is inevitable that a time will come when they will need additional help and support. A person with dementia may be very resistant to any intervention from any individual, and who…
Humanity in care – The role of touch
One of the most controversial elements of care provision is touch. It has a discomfort associated with it for many professionals, and even family members can have deep reservations about touch. It can be associated with abuse, both by ignoring…
15-minutes of shame
As a light was shone, yet again, on the huge inadequacies within our home care services as the issue of 15-minute visits hit the headlines, I decided to time my morning routine. Just how much could I as an able-bodied…
D for desire
They say that sex sells, and yet when it comes to dementia no one talks about it let alone advocates it. The idea of older people, and particularly those living with dementia, feeling sexy, desirable, thinking about, talking about or…
An urgent need to understand
There are a few ‘taboo’ subjects in dementia care. Taboo because we find them embarrassing, too personal or just uncomfortable to even consider. Continence is one of them. Dementia isn’t a disease that respects the delicate workings of the bladder…
Home alone
Imagine that every morning when you wake up, you are unable to get out of bed without the help of a carer. You might wake up quite early, needing the toilet or wanting a hot drink, but you live alone…
When illness strikes…
Dementia brings so many concerns for the wellbeing of those who are living with it, not least the risk posed by infections. Whenever my father was struck down by a bug, suddenly we would be plunged into a world of…
Little touches that make a BIG difference
One of the features of living with dementia is the constant battle over what the mind can help the body to do. As the disease progresses ability to do simple personal tasks, or even awareness that they need doing, can gradually…
End-of-life care: A very personal story
Planting up my father’s grave recently, I found my mind wandering back to our last few days with him, painful in so many ways and yet hugely comforting as well. Nothing is more important to me than knowing that we…
