Posted by Jaimee
Are we a society that cares about each other and values the contribution all people make, regardless of age and disability? On the back of the Panaroma episode last week Undercover: Elderly Care and Louis Theroux’s documentary Extreme Love, I witnessed and participated in several conversations about people’s values and a perceived lack of respect and appreciation for older people and disabled people and those that work for and with them.
While I can in no way suggest that these concerns are unjustified, and that something urgently must be done, I wanted to share a story that provides – to me at least – some reassurance that there are people out there who do care and who are working hard to provide care and support in way that treats people with dignity and respect.
Tricia is the manager of Vale House, a residential home in Oxfordshire that provides support to people who have profound mental health needs due to their dementia. She describes her work:
“It would be very easy for us to forget that our residents are individuals with their own personal history, background, things they like to do and things they are proud of. We’re helping to bathe and dress them, and have their meals in a day’s work. The easy way to do it would be just to treat everyone the same, to presume that all people over the age of 60 like to sit in a chair in front of a television for most of the day, or that they all like the same food. It would be very easy to get into the wrong way of doing it, but that wouldn’t be to use good person-centred practice.”
“If my mother was ill, I would want people to remember who she was, what her background is, and the things she used to like to do. Those things are very important to us here. Indeed, the whole process goes much more smoothly if we treat people as individuals. Every day and every moment in someone’s life is as important as the moment before. A moment in one of my residents’ lives is no less important than a moment in mine. I don’t throw away those moments and we shouldn’t do that for people with dementia. It really matters that we find out someone’s history and interests.”
Tricia and her team had helped a woman called Marjorie who, during an assessment in her previous care home, had sat quietly and not engaged in conversation. When talking with people who knew her, Tricia learned that Marjorie used to play the organ in her local church and that music had been an important part of her life. So when Marjorie came to live in Vale House, Tricia’s team decided to spend time with her for a short period each day to see if she could pick up tunes again. They would sing hymns and she started to pick them up and play them. Marjorie started to regain some dignity and went to concerts with a volunteer.
Person-centred practice, as a way of delivering personalisation in health and social care, does not necessarily need additional funding for it to make a massive difference to a person’s life (though I’m not suggesting that funding isn’t an important issue that needs addressing). But what I do want to make clear is that taking into account people’s whole lives, building their capacity and acknowledging the contributions they make, as individuals and as part of a community, can help solve some of the problems around ensuring all people are treated with dignity and respect. It requires - at the most basic and fundamental level - a different way of thinking. Thinking in a person-centred way helps us to understand and act on what matters to people, how they want to be supported, builds on their assets and enables them to become full members of their community.
As Louis Therox writes:
“However much is taken by dementia, something always remains. There can still be a person beyond their words and their memories, a spirit, for want of a better word, and a continuity with the person they were.”
Person-centred approaches help find this continuity and demonstrate that we do care and value all people, regardless of age or disability.
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