For many families the aged care journey can be emotional, stressful and overwhelming. We thought we would share a letter from the daughters of one of our residents which shares their journey and experience of finding specialist dementia support for their mum.
Last year my sister and I sadly came to a crisis point with our Mum, who a year before had been diagnosed with Dementia. We were doing everything we could to keep Mum at home, but she was declining, and we came to a point where she could no longer live at home on her own.
Entering this world of Aged Care was very new and I must say quite daunting. We were set on finding, what was in our minds, ‘the right place’ for Mum. After visiting many places (unfortunately Moran hadn’t been one of them at this stage) we found a brand-new facility for Mum to move into. She lived there for a period of 7 months. It was all very lovely and new, but we knew Mum wasn’t happy and still after all that time hadn’t really settled.
An opportunity arose in October last year at another ‘brand new hi-tech’ facility which had just opened which was closer in proximity to my sister. So, after many discussions, we decided to take the plunge and move Mum to this new place. We knew this was risky as it would be very unsettling for mum but were confident that in the long run, Mum would be happier.
Mum was only in this facility for 2 weeks until alarm bells went off! There were several incidents that occurred involving her and it became very clear that this centre didn’t have staff that were skilled in looking after residents with Dementia. Things got out of hand quickly and again we were on the hunt for a new Aged Care facility. Among the many places that I called was Moran Sylvania. I was fortunate enough on the day that I called to have Natasha Collis answer the phone. After pouring my heart out with our situation, Natasha with her beautiful approach and very calming nature, instantly gave me confidence and hope that Moran was probably going to be the right place for Mum.
I had a meeting set up a few days later to visit Moran, but unfortunately that night things got out of hand and the situation with Mum was escalating, I was very concerned for her safety and wellbeing. I called Natasha back the next morning (in tears). After explaining our new heightened situation, Natasha along with Lorraine Kelly came to our rescue and within half an hour had met my sister and Mum at Mum’s place of residence to assess her.
That evening, we had moved Mum into Moran Sylvania. The first night was rocky for everyone, but straight away we knew this is where she needed to be. I’m still astounded and impressed with the empathy, kindness and response that Natasha and her team put into action after my previous experiences with other places.
Mum has been living at Moran Sylvania now for just over 4 months. In this time, she has shown signs of settling – something that we thought was never going to happen. The residence and care provided at Moran Sylvania is first class! Every employee that I have met is friendly, caring and have made Mum, my sister and I feel very comfortable and welcomed.
The staff at Moran have been successful in engaging Mum in activities, this is something that hadn’t happened in the 2 previous centres. After such a rocky and difficult couple of years, my sister and are 100% confident that Mum is now receiving the absolute best care and Moran are doing what they can to ensure that she is living the best life she can with this terrible disease.
At the times when we can’t get there to visit as often as we like, we can communicate with the Care Manager and her staff easily and keep updated with Mum’s wellbeing. It’s also so refreshing to receive general communication and news from Moran Sylvania on a very regular basis via emails and newsletters.
It’s obvious when visiting Moran Sylvania, that both staff and residents are genuinely so happy to be working and living there. This is proof of what an amazing place it is. I love visiting!
Thank you!
Debbie Elliott and on behalf of Karen Stevens