One of my clients was moved from the hospital to a sub-acute facility the day before yesterday. Broken hip, hip replacement, infection, prosthesis removed, infection carries on. Imagine the trauma for a person living with dementia who cannot communicate verbally. The surgeon was “kind” enough to avoid general anesthetic in favour of an epidural. Regardless, the trauma of being in hospital, being physically restrained and sedated took its toll. The day before yesterday he was moved to the sub-acute. There is no process in place to discuss rehab with the family. No one communicates anything to his exhausted and exasperated wife or their sons. Until today, when the wife is having lunch with a family member, a doctor from the sub-acute phones her with the news that her husband needs palliative care, “she gives him a month or two”.
Dr. Rayne Stroebel PhD (Dementia Studies, University of Stirling, Scotland, 2022)
Mobile number: +27 82 455 5300 Email: rayne@mindsmatter.co.za.