DEMENTIA CARE:  NURSING HOME, OR HOME

A big part of what I do at Resthill is research. Research in what is best practices for memory care facilities, how can we improve our services, how can we up-scale our kitchen, where to buy linen, green cleaning chemicals, uniforms and overalls, meat and groceries and a myriad of other stuff, at better prices. I research the latest findings in dementia research across the world. I research what training should be given to our care workers as we need to do training regularly.  I research what other facilities in South Africa are doing and how we differ from them and what can we learn from them.  And then this morning, I was reading the online magazine Retirement Matters Volume 56 dated January 2023, and this is a paragraph from one of the articles:

“Dear nursing home – a letter.

 This is a hard letter to write. We have been together almost 30 years. That is a long time. But I need to tell you something. I don’t think this is working. I can’t do this anymore. It’s not you, it’s me. Well, that is not true. It is you. But I can’t blame you for who you are. I know how you were raised. “Be a medical model!” they told you. “Just worry about the body, not the spirit!” they said. “Remember, safety first!” was burned into your brain. “Don’t worry about what people want. Worry about what the rules say they should have!” “The most important thing is to be efficient!” It must have been difficult to have heard this over and over again. How could you not become what you are?”

After reading this, I realised that we are not THAT. I realised how different things are being done at Resthill.  For us, our Residents come first.  We look after their body, their spirit, their medical and spiritual needs, their comfort, their happiness, and their feelings of being in their home away from home. 

We have our share of rules but they are for the care workers and not for the Residents.  The number ONE rule for the care workers, cleaners and all other employees is:

The Residents do not live in your workplace, your work in their homes.

Our Residents are comfortable in their homes.  They have their pets with them which bring them great joy and a sense of belonging.  They have the whole premises to walk, “work” in the vegetable gardens and share in the abundant harvests, sit under the beautiful trees of remembrance and share an afternoon song in the garden. 

At Resthill there is no such thing as everybody has to eat at 08h00, be bathed by 10h00, be medicated by 07h00 or in bed by 20h00.  People living with dementia are not going to be prescribed what we or the care workers want.  They are the Residents, we work for them and we do as they want and need.  If one of the men decides to sleep until 10h00 or even later, then we let him be.  It is his home, he can do what he likes.  Each Resident is treated as an individual and we do not expect everyone to take walks or do activities at the same time.  One of our Professors will tell you quickly that he worked his whole life, he is now on retirement and does not have to walk anywhere.  One of the ladies will tell you she is not walking now as she is going to sit under the tree and have a cigarette.  That is also OK. 

We do what keeps them happy and what they want and need, not what is convenient for us.  We will never be a nursing home.  We are home!