People with dementia have various daily challenges to overcome. They usually need someone to help them with various daily living tasks, as well as specialised memory care. Depending on the progression of the disease, they may need full-time care twenty-four hours per day. It usually requires a person with some superhuman abilities to do this job.
Here at Resthill Memory Care, our team members are all Superheroes, especially during a time such as we are experiencing now with COVID-19. It takes a special kind of person with a special kind of training to continue providing an essential service when the country is in lockdown.
Caroline Maluleke is one such care worker, who explained that she wanted to be a nurse, but because of her high school subject choice could not study nursing and opted to study care work. She later gained nursing experience when she worked for a hospital group before starting work at Resthill Memory Care.
She relates how her baby was just a year old when she was offered this opportunity and how she made arrangements with her mom to have the baby looked after as Caroline started work at Resthill.
She is a superhero on our eyes, having sacrificed so much in order to live out her passion to help dementia residents have quality of life. Dementia care requires a special type of care. At Resthill Memory Care we do our best to empower our team members with the necessary backup and support to make them even stronger superheroes.
COVID-19 has added even more challenges to overcome which meant that our way of working had to change.
Usually, there are two teams alternating duty but for the lockdown, their regular two-days-on/two-days off shifts have been replaced by a two-week/living-in shift. The first team is ending their two-week lockdown and the second team is taking over for the next two weeks, leaving their loved ones behind to care for people with dementia who cannot function without help and support.
This is just one of many protocols put into place for COVID-19 to reduce the risk of exposure as much as possible. The whole team has willingly made the sacrifice and live the discomfort of having to stay at work while working without break for a two-week stretch. This does, however, ensure that all staff keep their jobs and salaries. This temporary system will be reviewed as the situation unfolds.
The sacrifice by every one of our team members shows us the lengths they will go to, to do what is required and displays the power of these Superheroes we call Care Workers.
To find out more about Resthill Memory Care, visit the website.