Day care resumes for older people

BRINGING BACK THE JOY

Shann Morris, CNM3, Older Persons Services, Dublin South, Kildare & West Wicklow Community Healthcare explains the uplifting effect of the resumption of day care for older persons

Day Care for Older Persons closed down on-site services when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. We told service users that we’d probably see them in a few weeks. That was not to be.

During the next 18 months, Day Care staff were responsive and creative in supporting their service users. Meals on Wheels increased, regular phone contact was maintained with service users and / or their family carers and multiple other creative supports were put in place by Day Care staff.

Fast forward to the end of June 2021 when we got the go ahead to resume on-site Day Care for Older Persons. The excitement was like Christmas morning, phones were hopping, clients wanted to come back ASAP. However, after everything our older population had gone through, it had to be done safely.

No two day centres are the same. Some are run by nurses, some by social care managers, and some by volunteers. Some offer a dine-in service only while some run a full day of activities, provide personal care, as well as breakfast and dinner. However, they all have the same aim - to support older persons to live in their homes and participate in their communities where they are known, loved and want to be.

Day Care Centres are Sláintecare in action. They are preventing both physical and mental decline for older persons by reducing social isolation and loneliness. They provide care on people's doorsteps. Older persons are more at risk of loneliness and isolation due to life transitions. Some service users and their families reported a decline in their loved one's cognition and mobility. Carer stress went through the roof in the time centres have been closed.

Barbara McDonough, Manager of Older Persons Services in Dublin South, Kildare & West Wicklow, and her team were tasked with supporting the 39 Day Care Centres in the CHO to resume on-site services safely. A project team was established.

Pictured during a project team meeting were: top left - Jeason Kanagaraj, Quality and Patient Safety Advisor; Top right - Catherine Croke, Health & Safety Officer. Bottom left to right - Shann Morris, CNM3 Older Persons; Danielle Malone, Clerical Officer Older Persons Ssrvices; Sharon Maher, Assistant Director of Nursing, Infection Prevention & Control; Barbara McDonough, Manager for Older Persons Services.

Collaboration with Infection Prevention & Control team Sharon Maher and Jacinta Grace Parker, Quality & Patient Safety advisor Jeason Kanagaraj, Health & Safety Officer Catherine Croke, our admin team Danielle Malone and Martina Foley, and myself, an ex-nurse manager of a Day Care Centre, meant a good robust plan was put in place.

Due to the strong team-focused approach fostered by Barbara, everyone was only a phone call away and the fact that we had a hotline to our IPC team was worth its weight in gold. Issues could be dealt with in real time and queries from Day Care staff were answered. This has also strengthened the relationships between Day Centres and this has developed a network for Day Care Managers to share experiences, knowledge and ideas.

Throughout this whole process the collaboration between Day Care service staff and HSE Older Persons Services has been amazing, with everyone sharing the one common goal – to give older people the opportunity to reengage with their communities.

Service users are delighted to be back. A lot of them were nervous and frail at the start but staff report improvements in people’s moods and mobility very quickly over time. I have met so many lovely people on my visits to the centres and one thing that strikes me is that they do not say anything negative about the lockdown but tell me how they watched more sport or talked to their families.

The joy I feel when meeting service users in the Day Care Centres has been immense. One man I met is known as daddy long legs - he is tall and thin with real long legs, he is the first to get up to dance and can’t wait for the dancing to be back. He is the main carer to his wife and he brings her home her dinner every day. The support he gets in the centre keeps him going. He has a twinkle in his eye and doesn’t complain.

We are all looking forward to restrictions easing further and updated guidelines for our Day Care Centres. Hopefully this will be in time for the waltzing at tea dances and the Christmas party season.