Good turn for residents

EARLY this month, a team of final year physiotherapy students from the Inti University in Nilai came to the nursing home where my mother is staying to undergo their practical training.

The team of four students with their lecturer in tow arrive at 8am and only leave at about 5pm. I later found out that they were on a one-month practical training attachment with the home. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw them applying what they had learnt on the senior citizens in the home.

Every morning, the students spend a few minutes attending to every resident, helping them with some simple exercises to relax their stiff joints. Later in the morning, they conduct another round of exercises at the foyer of the home for the residents, many of whom are on wheelchairs. They residents are arranged in a row or circle and follow one of the students to perform some basic joint exercises for about 20 minutes.

Since I go to the home twice daily to visit my mother, I could see that these students were having a very positive impact on many of the residents. Even the manager noticed this. My mother also told me of the pleasant experience she had with the students who took turns helping her to exercise her limbs. I am quite sure some of the residents enjoy the attention and care shown to them by these students.

Having these final year physiotherapy students doing their practical training in the home is a winwin situation. The home’s only physiotherapist now has them for one month and they are a great help to her in performing her daily tasks. Hopefully, the university will continue to send their physiotherapy students to the home for practical training in future. From what I hear, the nursing home is keen to be part of this programme.

I feel it is also important for family members to visit their loved ones frequently, especially those who are in nursing homes not of their own choice but because their children cannot take care of them due to work or other commitments.

I make it a point to visit my mother twice daily and take her out every Wednesday for breakfast or brunch. She loves her white coffee and half-boiled eggs and looks forward to such outings to the kopitiam.

An employee of the home used to take some of the residents out for breakfast to break the monotonous routine of having it at the home. This person has taken a long leave of absence due to personal reasons but I understand he could return in the future.

The thought of feeling neglected or abandoned in a home in your twilight years can be very depressing to some of these senior citizens. In fact, I found out recently that an elderly gentleman has confided that he is very depressed and wants to go back to his own house.

Though he is very independent, I suppose his children cannot leave him alone in his own house because he might fall or become ill and there is no one around to call for help. Hence, putting him in the home was the best option available.