First Respite

THIS POST WAS FROM  QUITE SOME MONTHS AGO, I FORGOT TO PRESS PUBLISH SO THE DATE IS WRONG

Today mum went into a nursing home for her first session of respite. It was fairly traumatic for Dad by the sounds. I offered to go with him, but he thought it would be better to do it on his own. Apparently, the woman who had arranged the respite, took the day off today, so when they went in, nobody seemed to know what was going on, and they were stuck waiting around to find out details. Then after Dad cracked it at the staff for their poor organisation, the Matron of the nearby hospital turned up, and asked him "How's your mother going?" This sent mum into tears because, of course, she is not his mother, she is his wife, and she still has far too much mental capacity to let that one slip by un-noticed.

He was anything but impressed with their lack of empathy, and they didn't seem very well organised to welcome a new, young resident in with Alzheimers. Surely they need to have someone rostered on, who knows the story behind a person coming in for respite?

I hope Dad sticks with it, and holds out to give himself a break. I really hope he doesn't ring her every day and end up going in early to pick her up because she hates it. Because, it's inevitable, she will hate it, she will hate the food, she will hate being surrounded by people 15+ years older than her.

It is supposed to be 2-3 weeks. We will see how long they hold out. I guess, he will now need to realise that no nursing home is going to give her the same standard of living she has at home. Staff at nursing homes are generally low paid and with a low level of education and training. It's never going to be ideal, but it will be necessary.