I went to see a friend in a care home over the Christmas period. He’s in his sixties and partly disabled, but intellectually alert.
The care home was prettily situated, in its own grounds, and seemed to be efficiently run. I am familiar with this scenario because my late husband was also in a care home for a time, and I have other elderly relations who are similarly situated: I have even stayed in a care home myself for a week, when I was convalescing from a hip operation.
And my experience of all care homes is the same: they almost all lack stimulation. Unsurprisingly, that was Jonathan’s main complaint when I visited him. Britain is supposed to be a nation of volunteers, but where are the volunteers to provide stimulus for the elderly or disabled – be it, say, a musical recital, reading aloud from a newspaper (for those whose sight is impaired) or playing a game of chess or draughts?
“I think I could go insane if I go on living like this,” said Jonathan. “I feel like a dog in a kennel.”
A report published at the end of December by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said hundreds of thousands of elderly people were “suffering in silence” – afraid to complain about their treatment in care homes (and hospitals). It is reckoned that more than a third of over-65s who received “below-standard” care feared that if they complained their future treatment might be affected.
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, says many care homes are short-staffed, and that is often evident. The staff just do not have the time to provide stimulus to the residents.
But, as Atul Gawande writes in his excellent book about old age, Being Mortal, we need a radical rethink about our mortality. We have, he says, prioritised “health and safety” over stimulus and interaction. Some care homes I have visited are like well-appointed prisons: you need door codes to get in and out, and even to use the lift.
Health and safety are the paramount values, and now that an elderly man, Ronald King, has been charged with shooting dead his wife, who suffered from dementia, in an Essex care home, security may become even tighter in the future.
Wouldn’t there be a Christian ministry in providing stimulus to those who reside in care homes? It is a pastoral need crying out for attention.
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Fraser Nelson, the Scots-born (and Catholic) editor of The Spectator, pointed out, in a thoughtful article recently, that capitalism is doing a fine job of tackling poverty and disease worldwide.
For example, malaria has halved since 2000 by the simple measure of rich donors providing mosquito nets for all. And there are many other instances of capitalism’s good deeds in the developing world.
But there are two sides to every coin: when you look at the New Year Honours list, and see that some people are awarded with gongs simply, it would seem, for making money – and not always in the most edifying way – you wonder about the values that are exalted by our capitalist system.
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Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies is the best film I’ve seen in months, and if you watch it closely, you’ll notice there are subtle suggestions of a Catholic presence in the story. There’s a discreet statue of a Virgin and Child on a bedroom dressing table, as well as the more overt example of a grace before meals at the table of the lawyer portrayed, Jim Donovan, (who does emphasise, in the film, that he is “Irish on both sides”).
Donovan, played by Tom Hanks – as ever on brilliant form – really was a very committed Catholic, who saw his job of saving a Russian spy from the gallows as part of his Christian, and humanitarian, commitment. After parlaying with the Soviets, Donovan went on to help exchange prisoners in Fidel Castro’s
Cuba – he negotiated the release of 9,703 men, women and children.
Spielberg has chosen not to stress Donovan’s religious conscience, which is fair enough – he’s telling a story, and he doesn’t want to be preachy about it – but what shines through is Donovan’s integrity and decency. And indeed, in my view, Spielberg’s.
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