jmgoyder

My job as ‘lifestyle assistant’ at the nursing home, also shortened to OT (occupational therapist) continues to be thoroughly enjoyable. The shifts are only three hours – from 3 to 6pm and I do an average of six shifts per fortnight so it’s not a lot of work but hopefully I will get more shifts in the future.

The dementia “house” is set up like an open plan house with the kitchen and dining room in the centre, a sitting room with a big television, and ten bedrooms down three hallways, each with its own ensuite. Then there are a couple of separate little sitting areas as well as a lovely patio out the back, with a garden. Seven of the ten women are ambulant, some with walkers and some without, so there is a code to open the doors due to the risk of anyone wandering off.

I have now established a routine whereby I take one or two of the women for a long walk outside around the grounds and in and through the other four houses, all of which are designed in the same way except Anthony’s which is more like a hospital ward. If I come on duty and find anyone already in a wheelchair, I begin with that person and this week I started to take J. by herself because she doesn’t seem to ever have any visitors and, even though she can walk a bit she is difficult to manoeuvre and quite tall, so I use the wheelchair. I don’t think this has been done before because previously the OTs took her on short walks until one of them wrenched her shoulder doing so (J. has a grip of iron!) In the wheelchair it is possible to take her on much longer walks and she seems to really enjoy this although it’s difficult to tell because she doesn’t talk much and even when she does she is hard to understand.

I like to take her by herself for that whole one-to-one thing but sometimes one of the ambulant women comes too. We go out the locked door into the sunshine and gardens then through a small parking lot at the back of the nursing home then inside Anthony’s section which begins with a foyer, then a large activity room, down a very long hallway, saying hello to the residents in the rooms to the left and right (including Anthony of course!) then out to another garden area at the front of the nursing home, up a steep driveway at the top of which you can see the ocean, then left down a road that enters the section where the independent elderly live in self-contained units, all with beautiful gardens, around a roundabout and back to the ocean view. Then we go back down the driveway and into Anthony’s section again, turn right to go through the dining/living area up another hallway and then back down and out into another garden area, then back down Anthony’s hallway, waving to him on the way (which he finds extremely amusing) then, once outside again, instead of turning left which leads back to the dementia house, we turn right and head up the narrow driveway past two other nursing home houses and up a hill to where there are other self-contained units. Sometimes the residents will come out and say hello to us and have a chat; then we turn around and head back to the dementia house. This takes around half an hour. Once back, I pick up F. or O. or D. and begin again. And again, with different people.

One of the things I have found most difficult about these wheelchair walks is walking slowly. It’s like the way you have to walk up the aisle! I am ordinarily a very fast walker but having already frightened the hell out of two women who thought they were about to be catapulted out of their wheelchairs, I now walk extremely slowly in a smell-the-roses way (and there are lots of roses to smell because the gardens are beautifully kept).

With the weather so beautiful lately this seems to me to be the best activity and my goal is to get all ten women out and about during one shift, but so far I have only been able to get seven out and about (yesterday), because dinner is served at 5pm.

The wheelchair walk tends to calm even the most agitated of the women down which is pretty much what I am there for as this time of day is notorious for ‘Sundowner Syndrome’ an anxious time for many people with dementia who may remember it as a busy time of day, getting dinner ready etc. B. who walks without any assistance, becomes increasingly anxious about getting back to cook dinner and when is her husband coming home? S. cries a lot, and O. becomes aggressive. The long, slow wheelchair walk seems to calm these anxieties to some extent and I much prefer doing this than singsongs and card games.

The sunshine, fresh sea breeze, gardens full of late blooms, and interaction with residents and staff outside the dementia house, is, I think, the most beneficial thing I can do in this wonderful role. The fantastically weird conversations we have with each other outside create a rapport and laughter that isn’t as easy inside.

Me: Are you enjoying it out here, S?
S: Not particularly.
Me: (laughing) What?
S: You cheeky man!
Me: I keep telling you I am not a man!
S: Oh, sorry (starts crying)
Me: Stop it – I was only joking. Do you want a hug?
S: Yes, please (we hug).
Me: If you start crying again I will bop you (laughing)
S: I’ll BOP YOU, young fella!

OR:

Me: Do you want to go for a walk, Y?
Y: Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alooooooone – doesn’t matter.
Me: Your chariot awaits (pushing wheelchair next to her).
Y: Oh all right, all right, all riiiiiiiiight.
Me: See! Look at all the flowers, Y.
Y: Pretty. Pretty flowers, pretty flooooooowers.

OR:

Me: Do you want to come for a walk, B?
B: Oh I don’t think there’s time. X. will be home for tea soon and where are the boys? What’s the time? Do I need my lippy (lipstick)?
Me: It’s only a short walk and I need you to help me with O. (O. in wheelchair).
B. Well as long as we’re not too long. Have you seen my handbag?
Me: We won’t be long and X (deceased husband) doesn’t mind.
B: Are you sure. Could you ring him?
Me: Somebody already has and it’s fine.
B: Well I suppose it’ll be all right. Just let me get my handbag and put my lippy on.
[15 minute search for handbag]
Me: Come on B.
B: Oh I think I should stay put. X. won’t know where to find me.
Me: He knows exactly where you are and we won’t be long anyway, B.
B: Oh well I suppose so but what about money? Wait a minute darling I just have to put my lippy on.
Me: B, I really need your help with this wheelchair.
B: Of course.

OR:

Me: O. do you want to go for a walk outside using the wheelchair?
O. No, no noooo – I don’t want the red with the pink. What is this? Stupid!
Me: How do you like the sunshine?
O. Too HOT – too fast, slow down!
Me: Sorry, sorry.
O: Slow down!
Me: We are crawling now, O.
O. Oh you crazy one – crazy crazy (guffawing).

Of course there are many more conversations, lots of silences and miscommunications, but the wheelchair walking routine I’ve now established is a winner in so many ways!