Alan's story
A former architectural surveyor, Alan built his family’s coveted home in Maldon by hand, where his children and grandchildren spent their childhoods. The family have lived in the home for 51 years and there are many memories within those walls. The family are determined for Alan to stay at home for as long as possible, so Margret cares for Alan at home, with the support of daily morning and evening visits from a career.
Watch Alan's story...
Alan, 84, lives with his wife Margret in Maldon. 7 years ago, Alan was diagnosed with mixed dementia. He needs support with his mobility and follows a SALT IDDSI Level 7 (Easy to Chew) diet, meaning he eats soft, tender foods that are safe and easy to chew.
The family are determined for Alan to stay at home for as long as possible, so Margret cares for Alan at home, with the support of daily morning and evening visits from a career. Claire, Alan's Daughter said "We have so many special memories here, we've had 21st's, 18th's, wedding anniversaries and Christening's! It's lovely that they're still living here and that they've both been able to enjoy it."
Alan has always been a social man, and although he was being very well cared for at home, he was missing social interaction and getting out in the community. Claire said "We really noticed that he needed to have stimulation from other people and different environments to help him because he would become more withdrawn. The best thing for dad is people. So everything else that he finds hard, if he's with people that he loves, he's happy and he's always been a people's person."
The improvement we’ve seen has been in Dad is absolutely incredible. ECL has literally been a lifeline for Mum, Dad and I. Without you our lives would be a completely different story.
Claire - Alan's daughter
How the team have supported Alan
Alan began attending ECL Maldon Older People Day Centre a year ago. While he has high support needs, the team have worked together to provide exceptional person-centred, holistic support, encompassing physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, emotional support and support to access the community.
When Alan first attended ECL, he mainly communicated through ‘Yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Our in-house team have worked with Alan to find other ways to communicate. The Support Workers and Day Centre Manager offer Alan options, and through signalling and other specific gestures, Alan can communicate his choices. The Day Centre Manager ensures the same few individuals work with Alan, so they can recognise his signals.
Alan absolutely loves getting out and about in the community, it’s one of the main reasons he attends ECL, so the team make sure he does this as often as possible. Between them, the Support Workers at ECL Maldon have created a notebook containing details of all possible outings in the local area.
They have built relationships with business owners, so to have named contacts and mobile numbers for each. They have noted details about wheelchair accessible entrances, outdoor seating with heaters, the best people watching spots and cafés with accessible bathrooms. They can call up a café owner to reserve a table for customers at almost no notice.
Alan's Support Workers use the ‘hand over hand’ technique to help guide Alan when he is eating, to preserve Alan’s ability to eat independently. Alan was struggling to drink from a standard cup, so the team have introduced a ‘nosey cup’, which means Alan can continue to enjoy drinks independently.
Whilst Alan was able to move around in the morning, he initially required a wheelchair in the afternoons, as he would tire as the day went on. The physiotherapy team have continually worked with Alan on strengthening his legs through exercises and have taught him and the team, how to use a hoist to support in the afternoons where he finds it more difficult to mobilise.
Alan requires the assistance of three people to provide personal care. The team have devised a clever way to do this, without it becoming overwhelming for Alan. Only one person speaks during the personal care, they communicate with Alan, making sure he feels safe, respected and emotionally supported. The other two individuals expertly perform the personal care, without communicating between each-other, so not to introduce more voices, which could cause distress for Alan.
After a full day of activities, the team were finding Alan was exhausted by the time he went home to his wife, Margret. To solve this, the team have moved activities earlier in the day, allowing time for Alan to rest in the afternoon, so once Alan goes home, he still has the energy to spend quality time with his wife.
The whole team, including the Day Centre Manager, Support Workers, Physiotherapists and Speech and Language therapists meet with family members regularly. They discuss any new developments and symptoms, for example - a Support Worker noticed Alan had a medical need, and ensured the family knew about this so they could arrange a visit to the doctors.
Alan's daughter Claire said "It's much better for him, living in his house he's always been in, he's happy and relaxed. Life carries on as normal with people coming and going and he's happy being in his own space. I think it's given him a real sense of normality so ECL has been a real life saver for us all.
For dad to have that friendly, safe environment to be in with other people and the interaction that he gets has just been amazing because it's just made such a difference to him. It's definitely kept him going. And for Mum, it's made a massive difference because she can still do things on those three days and not have to think about Dad. So she can go shopping, she can see her friends, and she hasn't got to worry about him. She knows that he's safe. It's been an absolute life saver."
Lucy Petrie, ECL Maldon Day Centre Manager said: "I'm incredibly proud of the work that we do here to enable people like Alan to stay in their own home for longer with their loved ones. It's been such a team effort, not just with our internal staff team of support workers but with managers, the clinical team, and his family too.
When Alan came to us he didn't verbalise very much. We've worked with the speech and language therapists to use communication tools, gestures, offering him a choice of things he can pick from. Being able to see Alan communicate his choices again is a big deal, we've given him his voice back."
This is a great example of how our team goes above and beyond for our customers. We truly care and do everything in our power to support our customers and their families.
Sherry Knight, Lead Manager at ECL Maldon