MeganHardy

I’ve worked full time as a care assistant in a residential care home for people living with dementia for 5 years now. Working with dementia can be stressful, draining and very emotional at times but it’s also the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.

As a care assistant working in dementia care part of my job role is to help and assist my residents in making sure their basic needs are being met such as washing, bathing or showering & dressing them ready for the day or night, encouraging them and keeping a check on their dietary & fluids intake as well as assisting them with their incontinence and or continence needs. I also encourage my residents to get involved in many activities or events we have going on in the care home we often have people come into the home to sing and the residents love to have a good sing-song and a dance. One of my favourite things about my job is when I can sit and talk to the residents I love getting to sit and reminisce with them about their lives, the jobs they’ve had, the places they’ve visited and people they’ve met.

I’m also there as a hand to hold and as a comfort if any of my residents are feeling scared, anxious or upset. I also provide comfort and reassurance to my residents on end of life and assisting them to be as comfortable and as peaceful as possible in their last few days & moments.

I’m not just there to care for and look after our residents but also their family members too. Having a loved one with dementia is a scary, confusing and an emotional time. Watching someone you once knew and who once knew you lose all ability to preform basic everyday tasks as well as lose the ability to remember a lifetime of memories or even who you, friends and family are is hard to watch. Having a loved one living with dementia isn’t an easy thing to witness. Dementia doesn’t just impact the person living with it but also their family members too.

My experience with dementia falls from my grandad suffering with vascular dementia, my family ended up moving house so we were closer to my grandparents after he was diagnosed ,fortunately for him it is slow paced but over the years it’s hard seeing him struggle more with his memory and becoming more frustrated with everyday tasks, since moving away I’ve stayed in contact and getting updates from my family but I am worried I can’t be there for him in 10 minutes like I used to .

Unfortunately in 2022, we sadly lost my grandad who had been living with Vascular Dementia for 10 years. Due to dementia me and my family wasn’t able to communicate with him as much as we always had done previously but hoped he was always listening. Although, we shared many memories leading to his diagnosis, Dementia did put a hold on making more with him. As a family we loved and cared for grandad as much as we possibly could, to reassure him he is not alone