• DOI:10.3928/00989134-20131028-01
• Corpus ID: 8333596

"At last i've found you".

@article{Simard2013AtLI,
  title={"At last i've found you".},
  author={Joyce Simard},
  journal={Journal of gerontological nursing},
  year={2013},
  volume={39 12},
  pages={
          55-6
        }
}

• J. Simard
• Published 7 November 2013
• Medicine
• Journal of gerontological nursing

Whenever I tell this story, my heart breaks a little. It’s a story of how easy it is to miss diagnosing unhappiness. Alice (pseudonym) lives in Park Avenue Care Centre, a nursing home in south London. Previously, she did not show signs of depression such as crying, poor appetite, or expressing sad thoughts. Alice stayed in her room quite a bit but as she had no family to provide a social history, the staff thought that maybe she had led a solitary life. She would occasionally attend a social function, ate her meals without much interaction with staff or other residents, and took her medication willingly. Alice, however, rarely smiled. Her room was her home and it was where she appeared to find comfort. Staff were puzzled that she often took her room apart, perhaps looking for something; however, they just accepted this as normal behavior for her. Alice also became upset if anyone tried to help her with personal care. That in itself was not unusual, as many residents resist taking a shower or having staff provide such intimate services. Staff did their best to respect her wishes for privacy and provided personal care in a way that was least upsetting for her. Even in her room, Alice rarely smiled. Park Avenue Care Centre is known for delivering excellent care and they usually have a waiting list of residents needing placement. Under the leadership of Arlette Beebeejaun, a nurse who is the Registered Manager of this nursing home, was the first to implement the Namaste CareTM program in the United Kingdom. Namaste Care is a sensorybased program of meaningful activities offered with a “loving touch” approach (Simard, 2013). As part of the program, realistic animals and dolls are used if staff believe that these items will bring pleasure to a resident. Some residents have their special “pet” waiting for them when the program starts. Others might see a pet or “baby” and hold it for a while but then lose interest, discarding it when something more interesting catches their attention. As a result, babies and pets are placed around the room so that residents have easy access to them. Alice did not participate in Namaste Care. She did not have a diagnosis of dementia and she would have been uncomfortable with the “loving touch” approach that is the foundation of Namaste Care. Staff would have never even thought of including Alice because of her aversion to being touched. In the Namaste Care program, faces are lovingly washed and a moisturizer is applied. Residents’ hair is gently brushed and hand massages are offered throughout the day. This, as they might say in the United Kingdom, was not Alice’s “cup of tea.” The door to the room where Namaste Care takes place is usually kept open so that any resident or family member can join the program at any time. Re pr int ed w ith pe rm iss ion fr om Pa rk Av en ue Ca re Ce nt re