I will always be eternally grateful to H my Admiral Nurse for pointing me in the direction of Teepa Snow.  Her work is groundbreaking in the field of dementia.  It is simple to get a feel for her ideas as lots of resources are freely available on the Net.  H loaned me one of her CD’s and I eventually splashed out and sent for one myself.

Teepa’s approach has come to my rescue here this morning.  M has been struggling at breakfast for some time now when it comes to spreading bread for her favourite marmalade sandwich.  Recently her efforts have led to all sorts of constructions on the sandwich front.  I suddenly had a brainwave this morning: become her ‘Nellie’.   Let me explain…

Just think of the first time you sat down for a formal meal in new surroundings.  What did you do?  You waited to see what others were doing then you tucked in almost confident that you followed the correct etiquette.  So what did I do this morning?  Firstly, I slowed down on gulping my porridge so I was just ahead of M.  Then as I began to make my sandwich I passed Maureen the gear to make hers. So she sat next to Nellie (me) copied what I was doing and everything worked out reasonably well.  Hey Teepa I’m modelling……

H I owe you more than one for your guidance on this journey.  You have rescued me on many occasions.  I felt good the other day when my ‘light bulb’ came on and you said: ‘you are doing fine, those that love you will understand: don’t worry about the others’.  It is reassuring  we have Admiral Nurses in this area as they have a comprehensive understanding of dementia and how to help carers step up to the mark.