Salt of the Earth
Many of my clients will know that I am carer for my aunt who has Dementia. I am in flight as I write this, heading to Alice Springs where she lives and as always, I am fascinated when I travel over Lake Eyre enroute. This is a vast salt lake and the colours of the desert remind us of how dry this amazing country is. But Lake Eyre is about salt and it reminds me about the term given to people as being “salt of the earth”. I am not suggesting that I am necessarily, although try sometimes.
Working with clients and people with Dementia brings a new set of skills. My aunt is an amazing woman who I have always greatly admired and it saddens me when I see this strong woman who can’t remember much from an earlier conversation. But for her, it’s about instilling the values you bring to show love and kindness, patience to go through things a second or third time and if they are anxious to demonstrate the peace around you so that they absorb it.
I am hopeful that the values and love I have always shown this woman somehow operates on a default setting. That she knows in her inner being that I will endeavor to do the best I can for her in the years that remain. I know sometimes when she looks at me I interpret that her body and many is telling me this.
When I am looking out for places to care for clients with Dementia, I tend to look with a set of eyes that the people, the place the process is ‘salt of the earth’. My aunt doesn’t need fancy, like a child, she needs routine and consistency in the care that she can trust with her inner being.
Whilst I set up Blue Hope Consulting to honour my Mother who went into Aged Care, I hadn’t planned, nor at that time, understood, how different a journey is with someone with Dementia. I continue to be amazed by the minds of the elderly. But those around them need to be Salt of the Earth. I am also supported in this journey by two strong couples: my brother and his wife and my cousin and his wife and collectively, and we operate as a strong team in support of my Aunt.
September 2018
