Serving the people of Bradford, Harrogate, Selby and Craven Districts

My wife has Alzheimer's

Hi, my name is Jim Middlebrook. My wife Carole was admitted into care in June 2020 after being cared for at home suffering from Alzheimer’s for about 10 years.

It came as a big shock to our family as we have always been very close, and many tears were shed before we came to this decision.

For the first 6 weeks, Carole was in an assessment unit and we were unable to visit her due to COVID-19 and the only way we could speak to her was by telephone, which obviously was not ideal with someone suffering with Alzheimer’s. Carole was transferred to a care home in July, and for the next couple of weeks, we were able to see her outside albeit at a distance which was better than nothing.

When lockdown began the only way we could see her was by FaceTime which was better than nothing, at least we could all see her and we did manage to have some brief conversations, given the nature of her illness.

Over the last couple of weeks, her care home has installed a visiting pod that has an intercom so at least I can visit and Carole can see me close up, although I still have to wear a mask. I am the only person allowed to visit so my girls are still FaceTiming Carole in their turns so it doesn’t confuse her seeing too many faces at the same time, but we all love and miss her so much. We have 3 daughters, 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Frankly, it has been a nightmare during the pandemic but the care home has been amazing and Carole is settled and seems very happy in her new home and own world. As things stand now over the next months with the vaccine rolling out and a quick COVID testing system, we live in hope that we will soon be able to have face to face visits and are very much looking forward to this.

Finally, it wouldn’t be right not to end this article to give an absolute heartfelt thank you to our Carers’ Resource Support Worker Amanda, who has been with us every step of the way for the last couple of years. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without her humour, advice and compassion.

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