Legacy from the Devil's Brigade

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by canuck, Jan 29, 2014.

  1. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

  2. Our bill

    Our bill Well-Known Member

    Thankyou for sharing the link , I am interested in this topic as my mother suffers from the said illness and dad served in WW2.My view will certainly rattle cages. All these elderly people that I feel, if they have family then they have been abandoned by their family.If children were being abandoned at the same rate the elderly are there would be an uproar. I listen to all the reasons children put their elderly parents in a home but is it not as children of loving parents our duty to adjust our lives the same way we do when we have our children. I listen to people explaining how they had to put cameras in their parents care home room after finding bruises or feeling that they were being neglected , why would anyone leave someone they love as bait to get proof on tape for the end result to just move them to another home. Yes it is a huge adjustment caring for an elderly parent in your own home but so is having kids but we manage that.
    Canuck , I found your link so sad and that this chap with his illness was left alone unsupervised long enough for the tragedy to happen is neglect in itself but no one mentions this in the article. . Elsie
     
    canuck likes this.
  3. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Elsie

    Many cages need a good rattling as not enough is done to look after those with Dementia - must say though as here in Canada - more is done than appears to

    be the case in the Uk and while the Care home syndrome is well established as a good profit maker ( we have four such homes in our small village ) my experience

    from the time my late wife was diagnosed we had extraordinary assistance from the Medical and Social services facilities…..with a weekly visit from the Doctor as the

    time drew close and four visits per day from a range of care givers - nurses and physios….plus my son taking a leave from his laboratory to

    nurse her as my wife elected to die at home in one of her better days - and thus it was all hands on deck to make the intervening time of some

    six months comfortable with our daughter

    coming over from London for three weeks and the eldest son and his family coming most week-ends- so she passed peacefully...
     
  4. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Hello Elsie,

    I don't disagree with your view per se, but it is too simplistic.

    For example, a friend and his wife (only children) had three of their four elderly parents suffering Dementia/Alzheimer's at the same time, all at the stage where they needed constant supervision/care. What was he to do? Give up work and look after the three of them perhaps; so how then would he fund looking after them? He made sure that they were in good homes, close to where he lived, visited them virtually every day and did what he could. The man was in complete turmoil for years, trying to do the right thing but never feeling that he was.

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  5. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Steve

    Surely - that is the job of your NHS to look after every stage of Dementia - that is what your friend pays for- and the cage that needs rattling - too many

    Administers - not enough matrons and nurses who knew what they were doing - nothing new about Dementia - just more of it...

    Cheers
     
  6. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Hello Tom,

    You would have hoped so, but my experience with dad's Alzheimer's is that there was very little care provided by the NHS for dementia sufferers. Moreover, I believe that the NHS regards dementia sufferers as an unwanted and expensive inconvenience, when in reality it is drastically under-funded and under-resourced. There were individuals who 'cared', but they were in a minority and working in an environment where they were 'King Canute trying to stop the tide coming in'.

    My wife and I had an approximate 750 mile plus round trip to visit dad and were so disgusted with his treatment that we were discussing/considering bringing him to live with us (not that he knew who we were). Unfortunately, he intervened; he escaped again from the home he was in one night, cut across some fields, fell down a ravine, was knocked out, found by the farmer next morning, taken to hospital suffering from exposure, fell out of bed and broke his femur (nursing staff hadn't put the side rail up), never recovered... He died in hospital.

    Given the 'cuts' in funding of recent years it has likely got worse; not that I can imagine what worse looks like.

    That is why I/we have private health cover... I will be sorting what happens with 'our' assets, should I and/or my wife require 'care', in the near future.

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  7. Our bill

    Our bill Well-Known Member

    Tom, hope you are well. Been side tracked reading some old posts of yours , Ron's and Sappers from 2009/10 . I find them so interesting if only half the world was full of the spirit you three showed back then and now what a better world it would be.
    Steve Mac, I kept it simple as this is a WW2 site. From my own experience the whole care of the elderly is rotten to the core as it is driven by cost and profit, the NHS don't get enough funding to provide the right amount of care. The care homes are privately owned and are run to make big profits. My story is not simple neither is any other persons in this position as the care of the elderly looks ok from the eye view but is I feel imploding in on itself through greed. 5years ago I went from being a self employed lorry driver to Florence nightingale, Without the soft voice and bedside manners. When my mum was officially diagnosed by a doctor she was then sectioned under the mental act which they don't use unless needed, so I was told . Then mum had a fall and broke her hip and I was introduced to our wonderful health care . The op went fine it was the physio that was the problem mum would say No Thankyou so the physio would just walk away when I explained mums condition she just shrugged her shoulders so going up the chain of command was a waste of time so I could not discharge mum so the powers that be said ,so I said but you are saying she is not having no treatment they agreed, so I spoke to my doctor and told him mum was living with me and booked the district nurse for a home visit then my daughter and l kidnapped mum from the hospital and took her home with me through this event mum never walked again. The district nurse said it was a good job I did what I did as mum had ulcers on her heels that were very neglected and the hospital was unaware of them.while the district nurse is tending mum there was a knock at the door it was the police and a social worker sent by the hospital but because I can stand my own with anyone they did not remove mum under the mental health act especially after what the district nurse told them.
    My husband is now ill and I care for him too . My daughter has a degenerative disease and our wonderful health service has turned her into a legal junkie on 40 tablets a day so I care for her in the day and look after my 2 grand kids and entertain them too.
    For each one of my ill family I have had to fight like a tiger to get them the care they need.the stress and upset ought to have made me ill but when one has no faith in a system that is supposedly there to help what can one do. I tried mum in a care home so I could have a rest found out there was only two staff on at night to care for a whole ground floor and she was only getting changed once a day lots more stuff to fill a book.I kidnapped her from there too. But that's another story.
    We have two carers coming in 3x a day to help me with my family but they are paid minimum wage , have to pay for petrol they use between calls out of their own pocket . They are only paid from entering the clients home to leaving the clients home . If client cancels the call the carers don't get paid but their bosses do. So most of the great carers don't stay in the job
    Yes I have rambled on as I wanted to explain I have used all of these wonderful services that turn out to be leaking buckets that cause more stress than any good they supposedly offer . Oh and the money that is always advertise that a Carer can get well no chance for me as I have worked hard all my life for when I get older and not squandered my money so therefore as a career I am £10 over the limit to claim . I could go on and on forever but will sum it up as the care of the elderly is flawed in every way so why would I put my invalids in their care I would not send my grand kids to a crap school would I . I also have no opinion what other people do we each make our own choices . Elsie
     
  8. Our bill

    Our bill Well-Known Member

    OMG Steve Mac yours is an horrific experience I so feel for you as this will stay with you forever. This is what happened to my grandad only he escaped and got knocked down by a car and died . I want to know how we can be heard to get things changing I have emailed age U.K. and other groups that supposedly support the elderly with just my own experience many many times even mp's councillors and never had a reply and that is the frightening thing NO ONE wants to know . Elsie
     
  9. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Hello Elsie,

    I don't believe for one moment that what you and I have witnessed are isolated situations, more common-place. There is nothing now that I can do for dad, but there is absolutely no way anything like that will ever happen to my wife, children or grandchildren (god forbid) as long as I am around to look after them.

    Dad regularly escaped, despite supposedly being in a secure environment. In his penultimate escape, he left taking four or so of the female 'patients' with him, saw them onto a bus (to where is anybody's guess) and then started his own journey. He had walked for many miles up the hard shoulder of a motorway and it was now night-time, when a Panda car (are they still called that?) pulled over ahead of him, the passenger policeman wound down his window to speak to dad, but before he could do so dad crouched down, said hello and asked "Are you boys lost?". That is how is was recounted to us by the police. In his final escape, he must have decided not to go via main roads, hence why he was on farm land when he was found unconscious.

    There were many really funny (ha, ha) moments with him, that still make me smile, but the 'care' side has the opposite effect.

    I admire what you are doing for your family.

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  10. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Elsie / Steve

    The more I hear about the "care " given to patients in the NHS - the more I am so grateful that I made the decision way back in 1957 to leave the once

    Great Britain and settled in Canada - where Canadians don't put up with any nonsense where people are paid to do the jobs for which they are paid - they have to

    just get on with it or do without...

    The treatment my wife was given in her last illness was NOT exceptional but standard procedure - anything else would not be acceptable….and they

    would hear about it - toot sweet..!

    Cheers
     
  11. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Hello Tom,

    Well, we now have a Canadian heading up the Bank of England, so we may get around to hiring someone suitably qualified from Canada to oversee the NHS... and shake-up dementia care provision.

    All the best, Tom.

    Steve.
     
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  12. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Heard a local radio report today about a 100 year old veteran who had successfully coped, at least outwardly, with his wartime experiences for 70 years and suddenly began having night terrors and being violent with hospital orderlies. It took 3 of them to subdue him. There truly is no statute of limitations on the effects of war!
     
  13. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Steve Mac

    You also have a Canadian running the GPO - and shaking it up a bit -

    Cheers
     
  14. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    *
    I forgot about that, Tom. Our post has started to arrive about 3 hours earlier now (but don't know why). I get all the Bills, so it just means I get the bad news sooner! :)

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  15. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Steve Mac
    You are getting your mail earlier as the postie's are now running….

    Cheers
     
  16. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Tom,

    Please keep this quiet. We are methodically infiltrating the U.K. and hope to effect a full takeover within a few years but we don't want to alert them in advance. When all is ready, we will seize Buckingham Palace and unveil a new Canadian monarch . We have a plan to employ hookers so Charles will open the front door. All very diabolical and wait to see what we have in mind for the Irish! :canflag[1]:
     
  17. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I wish people would stop refering to the GPO , that hasnt existed since 1969.

    Back on topic, I remember reading a (American I think) Veteran saying something like , ''They spent months turning us from civilians into soldiers & killers but they didnt bother doing anything to help us go back again.''
     
  18. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    *
    I didn't know Prince Charles was that interested in Rugby Union... :rolleyes:
     
    canuck likes this.
  19. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    "Back on topic, I remember reading a (American I think) Veteran saying something like , ''They spent months turning us from civilians into soldiers & killers but they didnt bother doing anything to help us go back again.''

    Even if that was possible!
     

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