The usefulness of who we are and what we do is an essential thread of life that keeps us going
After the children had all left and got married , Don and Joan lived in the family home that was a lot quieter now . Now and then they had a few visits from their children who were busy with their own families now . They always loved to see the grandchildren ,.
Suddenly Joan became ill and shortly after passed away leaving Don by himself in the large family home .
After Joans funeral , the eldest daughter Anne spoke to all her siblings about what they could do about their father . None of them had any solution on what to do with their aging father who had just lost the will to live . .
They tried looking after him in the family home but it became to difficult for Don’s children to look after him and after a family conference it was decided they would have to put their father into a nursing home .
The letting go was a hard procedure but a necessary process .
After some advice they sold the family home and paid the bond to have Don placed in a room of his own in Restways , an exclusive aged care facility overlooking the ocean . In there he would be well cared for until he would pass away . As hard as it was for Don it was even harder for his daughters to have to make that call but after their mother died their father had plummeted into depression and stopped eating and started to have falls every day in the home . It wasn’t an easy decision to make and it was very difficult to find a suitable nursing home .
Don’s life changed from the day he was taken away from the family home he had always known and put into a small room at Restways Aged Care facility .
Settling down as a new resident in Restways wasn’t easy when every one is a stranger .
One beautiful sunny morning Anne dropped in to bring her father out for the day . Thery were going to have a family lunch together with all the family there. The thought seeing his grandchildren lifted Don who seemed to have a new lease of life . Every one in Restways noticed how happy he looked as he was picked up that morning ,
When Don arrived at Annes house all the grandchildren were there waiting and they rushed over to him with a big warm welcome . Immediately something clicked in a positive way with Don who remembered all the times he once had spent when his children were very young .
He recalled the memories and how they all shared laughter and good times together .
They all had a wonderful day together and Don asked if they could have a regular weekend lunch .
Anne and her siblings promised that they would arrange that and at the end of the day Don was returned to Restways
It was much easier after that for Don to Cope with life in the nursing home because he realised how much he was loved by his children and grandchildren .
Most of the residents never had any visitors so Don felt very lucky to still have a family who wanted to keep in touch and include him in their lives .
Being old was just part of life but being old and being loved by his family made him feel young again Don started to enjoy life again and his smile was infectious with all the other residents in Restways . The staff at the nursing home had never seen or heard Don as happy before .
The weekends lunches with his family was the highlight of the week for him and recharged him for the rest of the week .
After that very positive result with Don the staff of Restways encouraged family members of the other residents to try and be more involved with a new project called Reconnecting the Threads .
The community health team also got involved and immediately funding became available from many sources to put the project into an active resource with other aged care homes in an effort to provide a reason to live once again for many who felt useless and abandoned as old folk in nursing homes .
For everyone who participated in the project they had found positive results and once again felt wanted and loved . Isn’t it amazing what a difference being involved can make in people’s lives .
