The first full meeting of the Dementia working group based on the motion I had passed on the life stories of others will take place at the City Chambers on November 27th .this group will be made of Councilors,NHS SW ,representatives from dementia and caring organisations a carer from the 4 compass points of Glasgow and myself (representing my 5 years caring for my mum and the life stories I Receive
This motion was built and passed on the words and experiences from carers like me and not to forget my mums story that I have told all across Scotland at events and through all forms of social media ,TV ,Radio and newspapers ,this is the beginning of project to look at dementia and caring across Glasgow and I hope you can help me build on the life stories I have to date to allow carers the privilege of telling ,sharing their experiences in order to help others I have great respect for the work funded organisations do but this was always about people first and at the center
I hope you can help me collect more life stories to make this all it can be and let families be the biggest part of deciding the outcome along with keeping this about people and true to the motion that was passed You can share thoughts and opinions at tommy@i-woz-there.com or send to Tommy whitelaw 29 crosslee street Glasgow g52 1sl This started with Joans story and was added to by so many more and all those stories together can decide a better future and outcome
I hope you can share this and help keep Joans and others stories true and alive
MOTION
Council recognizes the inspirational efforts of Tommy Whitelaw in raising awareness of the issues effecting the carers and families of people suffering from Dementia through his “Tommy on Tour” campaign
Council agrees to set-up a Cross Party Working Group to engage with carers and to ensure that the services provided to carers are appropriate to the needs of the carers and those suffering from Dementia and that the Working Group’s findings be presented by Council to the Scottish Government.
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Hi Tommy, first of all well done mate for what you are doing. I'd just like to say that I worked with dementia patients and absolutely loved them and the challenges of trying to manage their very particularly challenging behaviour but I had to leave because I was worrying about the most difficult residents when I was not there. A lot of the staff were just any joe bloggs who couldn't get a "better" job, they were trained in things like manual handling, hygiene etc but few had any understanding of what it was like to have dementia. One of the carers said to me one day, "how can you get so many of them to do what you want with so little hassle?". I said, "it is necessary to be a bit of an actress, you have to treat each person as an individual, some of the patients need you to be very quiet and patient, some of them need you to be a little more assertive and bossy -as it makes them feel that you know what you are doing and they relax and trust you". There is no training for this type of thing which I think is vital. I think it also helps to know a little about the person you're caring for, what they did for a job etc any trauma's they may have undergone. Some of these people had fascinating stories, if you could find out and it helps to remember that these "patients" are people, who lived, loved and lost like the rest of us!
ReplyDeleteI think the position of carer should be raised to as generally people view this as menial work and actually it is a very responsible position, looking after people who whatever they've done etc deserve to be cared for with dignity and respect.
A respite patient once commented that he thought we must be very well paid because we were always on the go. I told him that I would get 50p more an hour for sticking chicken's legs up their bums at the local factory!! I joked with him that perhaps if I stuck his legs up his bottom I might get a wage rise.
Anyway good luck and keep up the good work and I hope this spills over to areas outwith Glasgow.