This summer marks the 45th anniversary of living at The Meath for Sarah. Having enjoyed a celebratory tea party, Sarah is also taking the opportunity to look back upon her long time at The Meath. Sarah has epilepsy and a learning disability.
Sarah was keen to recall and share with pride her long stretching memories of life at The Meath. But Sarah doesn’t remember things in chronological terms. Her vivid memories flew like sparks and fired out energetically when prompted on topics such as food, socialising, accommodation and activities.
Sarah was born in 1963 and having lived with her father, mother, and sister, first moved to The Meath in the summer of 1979 at the age of 16. The Meath, society and the world have moved on considerably since then but not unrecognisably according to Sarah.
Having heard about a very different approach to the provision of care in the past, and the evolution of our services over the many years, I had preconceptions about Sarah’s take on her memories of The Meath in the earlier days of it being her home.
The Meath now prides itself on the enabling, person centred care which encourages each resident to be as independent as possible and to lead a fulfilled life.
Surely it must have been miserable to have it any other way? Sarah explained her memories and views on the various topics, and it seems that to her, there are pros and cons when considering life 45 years ago and in the present day.
Food and eating
Meals themselves, according to Sarah have over the years, enjoyed the best of times and the worst of times. In the early days, there was a lack of menu choice, and it was served at 5pm, but the food provided centrally and served in the canteen was good.
“I miss how we used to all eat together”
Before person centred care, The ‘Meath Home’ was an institution and each resident had to fit into the routine of daily life-not the other way around. Sarah seemingly didn’t mind having a strict mealtime and was happy with the arrangement of eating all together with all other residents in a canteen, rather than just with peers from her own house. A true extrovert and conversationist, Sarah enjoyed many aspects of communal, institutional life and her family recall that her usual seat was at the head of the long table.
Back then, residents were not encouraged to get involved with meal choices, the preparation of meals or to be supported to take part in any independent living skills and she was very happy with that. It freed up more time to people watch, chat and socialise with her friends.
Sarah recalled a less happy mealtime era, when in the early 2000s catering provision was subcontracted out to a private company. She didn’t much like the food and it was eaten in their own houses.
“Now we have to help out in turns and we only eat with residents from our house. But we make the food we like and I like coming to The Hive for lunch and having a chat and I can’t wait for the evening dinners and activities!”
Sarah is looking forward to the expanding activities at The Hive which include a monthly supper club, regular social events, in addition to some daytime learning opportunities.
Begrudgingly, Sarah accepted that the idea of being supported to live independently and to be a part of decision making was in theory a good idea, although it seems that in practice, she preferred times when she took a less active role in the more practical occupations of daily life.
Accommodation
This topic sparked a verdict of a clear win for modern times, or rather post 90s when residents were upgraded from a cubicle on a ward, to their own bedroom.
“I didn’t like just having a curtain around my bed, I really like my own room. It was noisy and too busy.”
Now Sarah is proud of her own, personalised bedroom. Each person’s bedroom is their own welcome quiet sanctuary from friendly and relaxing but busy communal spaces.
Sarah lives in the main Meath building, our beautiful and historic main house hasn’t changed much at all on the outside since she moved in, but it is very different on the inside in terms of both function and comfort.
Corridors with cubicles are thankfully now individual bedrooms and former ‘wings’ are now a ‘home within a home’ for a group of residents, each sharing a living room, kitchen and dining area- and most importantly, sharing life together as they are supported for things such as mealtimes, outings, and in-house activities together. There is no longer one canteen serving a communal meal at a designated time, but our on-site café The Hive in its place, ready to welcome and serve residents and their guests, along with staff and volunteers.
A past manager of The Meath visited and spoke of her memories of the poor state of the condition of the main house in the early 1990’s. Having recently returned to England following missionary work in Africa, she was surprised to find the living conditions at The Meath not too dissimilar to those in developing countries and recalled ice forming in corners of single glazed broken windows and drafty corridors.
Our now comfortable main house presents a continuous challenge in terms of raising funds for ongoing restoration and repair as well as for the funding of fuel bills, but thankfully we have come a long way in terms of providing a comfortable home for residents over the years. Indeed, at present we are working hard to also raise funds for the up grading of internal safety systems which are vital to ensuring that we can continue to reduce the risks posed by complex epilepsy.
Activities
” A long time ago, before the Skills Centre, we didn’t have a day centre. Now I enjoy lots of different activities but when I first came here we had one big shared living room and we used to do basket weaving. I think it was to make some money, I didn’t mind it as I sat with my friends and had a good chat. “
At the Skills Centre Sarah has enjoyed cooking, woodwork, sewing and textiles, gym and at the recent annual Skills Centre awards ceremony, she was proud to receive a certificate for completing an ASDAN accredited course in safety in the kitchen, as well as certificate of achievement for her progress with loom knitting. Sarah reflected on her recent success,
“Getting my certificates made me feel happy and cheerful.”
Never one to miss a social gathering, event or trip she added
“I also like trips out and parties here at The Meath, and I like it when we get animals to come and visit.”
While Basket weaving served a purpose in terms of providing residents with a useful occupation, utilising fine motor skills and enabling them to chat together, it was a limiting offer which by modern standards does not pass muster. Perhaps the enjoyment that it gave Sarah has now been placed by her love of knitting, but thankfully it has also been added to with the offer of many different daily skills-based activities.
Lifelong Friendships
Sarah’s 45 years of memories at The Meath came to her when prompted on various topics but there was one theme which cropped up in everything she mentioned. The strong friendships she made with her fellow residents and the kindness of staff. A former Matron ‘in charge’ was described as strict, yet kind. Sarah described her 16 year old self as being ‘looked after’ by older residents Lorna and Betty.
After both reaching old age, both Lorna and Betty have passed away and Sarah has other strong friendships such as with fellow Thursley resident Mel. Sarah is also proud that, as an older and experienced resident at The Meath, she is now able to take others under her wing.
A Beautiful Setting
One key part of living at The Meath which has not changed over the years is our beautiful and extensive site. Sarah has a huge appreciation of The Meath grounds and is often found in a sunny spot with a cup of tea and a word search book. Over the years the natural setting has provided Sarah with lots of inspiration for art works and her sister Deborah commented
“Sarah tells us every Sunday about the deer and wildlife she sees from her window which gives her immense pleasure.”
Sarah is very proud to have called The Meath home for 45 years and was thrilled to celebrate this milestone with her friends at a garden tea party, plus some visiting farmyard friends! All who work at The Meath are equally proud to play a small part in supporting Sarah to live so happily and safely in her home over the many years.
