Returning to and being able to volunteer at the nursing home with all the different rules and regulations plus restrictions due to ’you know what’ has reminded me how different life in a nursing home was for my aunt in 2009
(At that time I belonged to a (now defunct) ’families and carers’ group where to ease the strain we wrote and shared pieces online – I hope you don’t mind me sharing this one here)
~ ~ ~ ~
Aunty Pam’s Last Dance
I haven’t said much about my Aunt recently
As even tho’ she has been in the nursing home for a few months now
she is still very unsettled and almost withdrawn
I am grateful for the loving care she is receiving
yet feel there has to more that I can give
I visit when I can and if its dry outside
I take her for walks in the wheelchair along the main road
She can look at the traffic and also in peoples gardens
We ‘talk’ about the flowers and the cars
I try to get her to tell me the names of the plants and describe them
– colours and shape –
but her memory is really going and she just gets flustered
Unfortunately over the past month or two
she has become so uncoordinated
I find it difficult to transfer her into the car
so going for a ride is now a thing of the past
Even tho’ the wheelchair taxi is very unreliable
– they come when it suits –
when the weather is better
my cousin and I hope to manage to take her out
maybe for lunch at one of the larger shopping centres
There is one close by with some nice little cafes
we can walk round
and she can look in the shop windows
Also if there are the two of us there to entertain her
it won’t be such a problem if we do have to wait
for the taxi to come for the return journey
~ ~ ~ ~
Last night I took Aunty Pam to a dance
Yes, a dance……at the Nursing Home
The staff organised an evening for the residents
They asked for some nice clothes to be there for the evening
Ladies had long lasting hairdo’s (I think the rollers stayed in for hours lol)
Nails done, make up on and off we went
Down to the largest day room
– renamed The Ballroom for the night –
decorated beautifully with fairy lights and balloons
Carers who weren’t on duty came in and helped out
Carers who were on duty kept popping in to see what was going on
It was only the really infirm who were in their rooms
and one carer stayed on the floor all the time
We listened to a Glenn Miller tribute band
And we danced

Wheelchairs were wheeled round in time to the music
Those who could were on their feet
– some gently swaying – some remembering steps from long ago –
others having a fine old time humming and mouthing words to old favourites
Lots of family and friends there
young and old
There was wine and beer and soft drinks
There was finger food and cakes and pastries
and at the end of the night
This lady who has been so unhappy
went to bed with a smile on her face
And ‘this’ lady
who has also been so upset
‘cose the other lady has been so upset
drove home with tears in her eyes
‘cose the other lady was so happy 😊
A lovely tribute to a loved woman and a happy time.
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Beautifully written and such a great insight into their world.
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This is so beautiful. You are such a heaven sent niece and really made the last part of her life journey beautiful and happy.
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How lovely – and for a short while so was Aunty Pam
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Misty eyes here.
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Just catching up, but so glad I found this lovely tribute to your aunt. My best friend from college has had Alzheimers now for 20 years and is finally in a home. But she still loves to dance with her husband who visits every day to do just that.
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