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In the course of writing Aged Care Homes, the authors researched every aspect of the care-home industry. Suddenly an elderly friend (let's call her Jeane) appeared on the horizon desperately needing to find a home. She had been in and out of hospitals and homes for the previous seven months, and her family didn’t really know where to start with the search. Nor did they have a clue about the finances and the best way to fund Mum's stay in the home. This was a great opportunity to test out the ideas we had written in the book. So I talked to the family about what they all wanted. The geography was easy – halfway between the two children. This area proved to have six or eight homes from which to chose. So I took the care-home checklists and set out to find a short list. The first home I went to wanted me to make an appointment which I did for the same afternoon. It looked nice – a promising start. When I returned later in the day, I discovered that it was pleasant, had all the care facilities you could want and was opposite a nice quiet park. I was able to tick off most of the requisite criteria on my checklist. This was an accredited home, which would mean finding an accomodation bond.
The next home was older. It looked like it had been built 25 years ago, never updated and had minimal external maintenance. Even the outside steps were cracked. If I was struggling with these how would a resident with mobility problems cope, I wondered? Believing that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I went inside. My gut feelings were instantly reinforced. The reception area was small, sparse and the plastic flowers had been there so long that they were badly faded. This home, it turned out, only catered for locals and wanted to see the ACAT paperwork first to be sure they could provide Mum's care needs. So even though this particular home got struck off my list, I did learn that there are some homes out there with a very particular focus and when I got home, I amended the manuscript accordingly.
I headed off to the next home which I mistakenly had added to my list. It was high care only and Jeane only needed low care. However that was still an interesting insight into what a high-care home was like! By this time I needed lunch and a break to recharge. I had scribbled all over my checklists as I visited these homes, and it was immediately obvious that these didn't work at all well. I didn't need to wait till I got home to amend these!
There were two homes left on the list, both in the same ownership and one very close to Jeane's daughter. The first of these was very close to a big road junction of two major roads. The amount of traffic during peak periods would have made it very noisy. But the rooms were nice, the welcome pleasant and friendly, and the big plus was it huge lounge, designed so that there were separate spaces for different activities at usage at different times of the day. It was a noisy interactive space which felt very easy to live in. The big downside was its position so close to these big roads.
The last home on my list was more central and this made it a better choice. Both homes were only two or three years old, also a plus. This one again had pleasant feel to it but it did not have a large central lounge, but rather several smaller ones in different parts of the building. In theory this was better because those resident's whose rooms were nearby didn't have to walk so far to reach a lounge room. (As I learned later, hardly anyone used these lounges.) The home was on two floors as well, but the lift was central, large enough to take a wheel chair and worked well. But the one thing that jumped at me in this home was that the rooms were larger than average – all the other homes I visited had the same sized rooms which felt small and only just about adequate. This home was a private, supported residential service home, which meant no bond – you negotiate the fees with the home directly. I knew that Jeane's family would find this the more appealing option just for this reason alone.
So I reported back to Jeane and the family and a couple of days later I took her over to see these last two homes. She was in two minds, quite liking both of them. Then at the weekend, all three of them went for a visit. Both homes had vacancies, both were SRS homes, and this meant that Jeane could move in any time she felt ready. (She would have had to sell her own home to find a bond – and this would take time – but she could fund the weekly fees.) Eventually she chose the home with the large bedrooms and moved in a few days later.
In the weeks that followed I visited her several times. At first she was daunted by this new environment full of strangers she had to share her mealtimes with. She took refuge in her room increasingly. I began to see the value of the large active lounge in the other home. Her own furniture got moved in slowly over a couple of weeks. On my first visit I my gut reaction was that her room felt just like an institution (which it was of course) even though it was a nice one. So I learnt that personalising the room as early as possible would go a long way to making the new resident feel more settled and the room feel more like her own home. Each visit brought new learnings for me all of which were added to the book. She eventually did pal up with a few of her neighbours and this made each day more appealing and worth getting up for.
Activities are the one thing that keep depression at bay, especially in residential care homes. Any activity is focus of attention, something to talk about, and something to look forward to. Although Jeane's home had an activities schedule it turned out that these were not being supported by many of the residents, and so they dwindled. A vicious circle sadly. However at the home near the big road junction, the activities were more varied and included outings and even on my one visit, it was obvious that more people partook and enjoyed these events. I probably underestimated just how important these are when you are living in a care home.
Just to conclude Jeane's story, she wasn't particularly well when she moved in, and slowly her health deteriorated. Sadly she died just four weeks before the book was published, so she never got to see just how much her move into a care home will benefit so many others in the future.
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