"This powerfully poignant short
film claims to address the sensitive issue of transitions into care
homes and how care home staff can understand and support the
emotional journey of an older person during this time. The
training pack does all that and more. I have worked in health care
for many years but the educational content of this pack set against
the ability to make the viewer ‘feel’ every step of the journey an
older person takes in entering a care home is a very powerful
process that proves successful in the aims it initially sets out to
achieve in its preamble.
It is now a few years since the
Department of Health launched its Dignity in Care Campaign which
aimed to end tolerance of indignity in health and social care
services through raising awareness and inspiring people to take
action. At the heart of the campaign was the identification that
dignity covered all aspects of daily life, including respect,
privacy, autonomy and self-worth. Whilst the challenges to the
dignity of older people is widely felt, perhaps more so when giving
up independent living and entering a care home.
Amanda Waring’s ‘What do you
see?’ training pack is an inspirational example of how the dignity
campaign can be powerfully harnessed and focused on the care home
setting. From the outset of the programme person centred care
is conceptualised in the various facilitated exercises; through the
presentation of narratives, poems and anecdotes that enable the
‘student’ to not only empathise with their resident but to
understand that we each have a personal biography that defines who
we are.
A welcome inclusion in the pack
is the call to maintain the individuals ‘spirituality’; the very
essence of who the resident is. Developing a training pack on
person centred care and promoting dignity is a challenge in itself;
but to also tackle ‘Spirituality’ is perhaps a greater challenge
still but again Amanda does this well.
One point to note is that almost
two thirds of people in care homes have some form or degree of
dementia but it is not until we reach the later steps within the
pack that dementia is actually mentioned.
This aside I would recommend this
training pack whole heartedly as an essential component of
education for all care home staff to effect the delivery of care
that truly has dignity and respect of the resident at its
heart.
One quote I particularly
liked:
“We should not wear age as a
burden – but as a crown”
I am particularly looking forward
to Amanda’s new film ‘The Big Adventure’ about dying. More
please Amanda!
"The
training pack has been absolutely invaluable as a framework for the
Dignity in Care training which I provide.
I have
been able to adapt it for the various groups I work with
e.g.Healthcare Assistants, Registered Nurses, Occupational
Therapists, Physiotherapists and Medical Students. I find it
a very powerful tool as it touches on the emotions and feelings of
participants and helps them to understand what it must be like to
be vulnerable and stripped of your dignity. It therefore
challenges each person to consider their personal role in providing
compassionate care which respects the individual as a person."
