Hello!
I thought I would write a more in depth introduction
to myself and this blog for you to understand my reasoning for making this.
As I already said, I am currently studying to be a
mental health nurse and my path to making the decision to study nursing most
definitely started at my first experience of dementia.
My first experience of the disease was in 2012 when
my grandmother was diagnosed with the early stages of vascular dementia. At
this point I was studying for my first degree (which was nothing healthcare
related), it happened to be summer so I had a lot of time off university, so I
went to help my grandmother around the house, doing small jobs for her and
making meals etc. For me, this was a bizarre experience, to see my grandmother
change so drastically. It was extremely sad, as I'm sure you know, or can
imagine, but it also fascinated me hugely. After a short while my grandmother
moved into a nursing home and I returned to university. It was then I decided
to get a job in a nursing home myself as I had found I had such an interest in
that type of work.
The nursing home I worked in was not what I expected
it to be at all. I was, I'll admit, fairly naive and thought carers in nursing
homes often sat quietly doing crosswords with residents, and although this does
happen, the home I worked in was often extremely different. I worked in a home
that had both a general nursing unit, and a challenging behaviour unit. I
worked on both but primarily on the challenging behaviour unit. Every resident
in the unit had a type of dementia, some also suffered from depression,
schizophrenia or cancer. To say this work was rewarding doesn't do justice to
it, I discovered a passion I never knew I had. I worked on this unit for almost
3 years, near the beginning I was given physical intervention and restraint
training, and I went on to often witness behaviour from residents a lot of
people would never believe elderly men and women were capable of. After 2 years
I was made senior carer of the unit, which is something I am very proud of.
There were good and bad days of course, like with any job, but I loved working
there and it was then I decided to become a mental health nurse.
Something that helped hugely in my decision to
become a nurse was the support of the residents family members. As I was senior
carer and worked there for quite a while I built extremely strong bonds with
the families of the people I cared for. I was often the person they turned to
for advice or support, I comforted them through the illnesses and deaths of
their loved ones and in return they gave me the confidence and self belief to
apply for nursing, through their words of gratitude, encouragement and love. As
you can imagine, in a job like that, you build near enough unbreakable bonds
with residents and their families, and there are many residents who have now
passed on who I still hold dearly close to my heart and will never forget.
My main reasoning for making this blog is to raise
awareness about dementia. I feel I have experienced things that can help other
people who are struggling to cope with a loved one suffering from such a
horrible disease. I will post on here the things I have learnt about dementia,
things I know about communication with dementia sufferers, things I have taught
my family to help them deal with my grandmother's illness, activities I have
done with dementia sufferers that have been positive and basically anything I
feel may help someone.
It is heartbreaking to see someone with dementia, I
do not believe there will ever be enough awareness raised about this disease so
if this blog can help even one or two people in any way then I will be very
happy.
Sending my love and support,
Catharine.
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