Last year Paddy’s nursing home closed the home totally to visitors. After a while they allowed strictly controlled visits with the visitor wearing a mask and keeping 2M (6 feet) from the resident. Even this was stopped as the epidemic got worse locally. In August he moved to his present place and I was allowed to transport him there which was a rare hour of contact in a very long time.
The new place, The Lodge in Buckshaw, Chorley, impressed him so much he asked “Who is paying for this?”. Fortunately it isn’t him or me. Wigan Borough Council picks up the bill. I understand it costs at least £900 per week. The place feels like a two star or better hotel. The staffing levels are high as all the patients in the ‘house’ where he stays have significant levels of dementia.
Paddy has a habit of wandering about and approaching other residents who don’t want to be bothered.
Anyway, today they let me in to the building for the first time since August. I have been able to talk to him through a window a few times but even that was later considered too hazardous to the residents. I wouldn’t dream of questioning the home’s management decisions on this. I am sure they have the guests best interests at heart. All of the residents were given their first dose of vaccine in January and are about to get the second shot.
Its generally accepted that once this takes effect that although they can still catch the virus the antibodies should be sufficient to render the condition less damaging so further relaxation is coming soon.
So, I got kitted up with an apron and a surgical mask and sanitised my hands.
Paddy’s wanted to know why I hadn’t visited him. Explaining about the virus would be a complete waste of time. He doesn’t understand anything that complex nowadays.
He told me he had seen his mother. This could be his adoptive mother who passed on 30 years ago or his birth mother who died about 16 years ago. Not at all sure about these periods. He seems to be living in the period when he lived at Lochinisland which is at least 40 years ago.
Other good news is professionals such as chiropodists and opticians can now visit. I am not convinced that the glasses and hearing aids Paddy has been using are his. He is likely to have picked up someone else’s in the hospitals and the first nursing home as there weren’t enough staff to prevent this.
