NURSE WHO WAS SALVATION FOR ANGELA’S MOTHER

ANGELA RippoN’s Health Hero is Nellie Minima, a psychiatric nurse with Devon partnership NHs Trust, now retired, who cared for her mother Edna (pictured) before her death in 2009. Angela says: WHEN Mummy was diagnosed with dementia 13 years ago, I faced a wave of emotions — guilt, fear and confusion, but Nellie was our lifesaver. While it was a relief to have a diagnosis, it was terribly sad and it left me with a lot of questions about what to do next and what was best for her.

I turned to the Alzheimer’s Society for help and Nellie was assigned to Mummy. She went above and beyond anything I could have imagined. She was a bright bundle of energy, but also very calm and reassuring. I wanted to keep Mummy at home for as long as possible and Nellie helped make that happen.

She visited regularly throughout the week, so she didn’t feel isolated and lonely and she’d always ring me afterwards with an update. I didn’t feel Mummy was just a number to Nellie.

She organised for her to be collected and taken to a local day centre with a memory clinic, and for carers on the days she wasn’t there. She knew everything that was available and made it all appear seamless at a time when having to juggle different contacts and options can be overwhelming. Nellie was always at the other end of the line to talk to me and put my mind at ease about the guilt I was feeling.

It was Nellie who broke it to me that it was time for Mummy to go into a home. That was absolutely heartbreaking, but I knew she had her best interests at heart and she helped me find the best place.

Nellie continued to visit, getting Mummy a special bed to keep her from falling and prevent the bed sores that people with dementia often get. She was there for 18 months before she died.

From Mummy’s diagnosis to her death, Nellie made a difficult situation bearable, and I couldn’t have got through it without her.