My friend, the PE teacher, was called away on family business so I took the exercise class for the residents at my mother’s care home yesterday. Not the expert I spent a bit of time planning two exercise routines, one for arms and the other for legs. Exercises are done sitting in chairs so this comes with a number of restrictions, as you can imagine!
After months of behaving, my docking station (yes, I still use that same docking station that survived Noah’s Ark!) periodically misbehaves. Over the Easter weekend when I hadn’t quite managed ten thousand steps and my Fitbit had warned me to ‘get moving’, after washing up I closed the kitchen door. By way of manic dancing to tunes on my iPod, which is connected to the said docking station, I reached my target. Fitbit and I would go to bed happy! One evening I started dancing to the Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Women’ when suddenly it was replaced by a Katie Melua ballad. Not even the next song but a random choice!
So yesterday, docking station packed with two pieces of paper, one with the list of songs and the other the dance moves, I arrived, albeit a bit flustered, at the care home. Most of the residents were siting in their chairs watching a brass band playing old war tunes. This is how the activities manager gets them ‘into the mood’!
I started with a slow warm up to ‘As time goes by’ and we moved our heads, necks and were just about to raise our shoulders when the gentle crooning was replaced by the Troggs ‘Wild Thing’! I had the music quite loud and the doors were both closed so this sudden gravelly rendition of an unknown pop song created quite a stir! An old gentleman, taking his morning nap, was rudely awakened and tried to stand up, I presumed to leave the room, not to start gyrating!
We started again! This time Vera Lynn’s ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ was my choice and the class continued without further interruptions. The little Irish lady on my right, who had obviously kissed the Blarney Stone many times, was on top form. It never ceases to amaze me how supple she is as her high kicks in her chair would be the envy of most can-can dancers! She either sits and stares around the room passing asinine comments, or throws herself whole-heartedly into the class. Yesterday we had the latter.
In front of me and struggling but determined to work as hard as possible was 102 year old Maggie. She had been a land girl during the war. She is in the care home to help with physical disabilities but remains as bright as a button! She told me that she does her exercises every morning to keep supple and really looks forward to these weekly classes. That’s why my friend and I persevere, for people like Maggie and Mark.
Mark is the only gentleman who joins us to exercise. There are others who sleep or just don’t bother. But Mark is an active member of our class and a real joy to watch. Every session ends with ‘I would walk 500 miles’ a lively song where we have shown everyone the hand jive, which we perform with gusto when we hear the chorus. Mark has been known to stand up and march along to the beat. When this happens my friend dances with him and he radiates such joy and delight in the moment that this memory stays with me for the rest of the day!
There are times when we feel that the staff don’t help enough to get the residents into the sitting room and I’ve even had to confirm with the care home manager if she wants us to continue. But the activities manager is very grateful and the residents, who actively take part, some of whom have sat for weeks or even months before joining in, make this hour we give up of our time once a week worthwhile. It took Joyce until a couple of weeks ago to slowly begin to follow the exercises and she is now one of our most ardent fans!
Mum, however, continues to deteriorate but I still try to coax her to join in the classes. She often cat naps or just sings along to the music. Most times she’s comfortable and is being well cared for so there is not much more I can do. It’s families who suffer as much, if not more, than the patients! Until my mother went into a care home and I could see the many stages of dementia, I had no idea how low this disease could stoop! If only we could wipe it out, together with all mental illnesses. The world would be a far better place! 👠
Jenny Burrell 