M L
CARING ABOUT THE FUTURE
Making a decision on how you want to live in your later years can be a tricky one , whether you are deciding with , or on behalf of a loved one , or whether you ’ re thinking about it for yourself .
Mersey Life caught up with Jo-Ann Wallace who is the Senior Lodge Service Advisor at Birkdale Tower Lodge , part of Athena Healthcare Group , to find out what sort of options there are for care and understand more about moving forward into it .
Who are your typical residents ? Here at Birkdale Tower Lodge , we have a wide and varied range of residents with differing needs . Some people might have become lonely , perhaps they ’ ve been widowed and are looking for some help and companionship . Their home may be too big for them now and those household jobs they once breezed through might be getting a bit much . Others might not have a lot of family members or friends around them and are afraid of something happening to them , such as having a fall . These are the type of people we see in our residential care settings . There ’ s someone there 24 hours a day for them , all their meals are provided and they no longer have to contend with things like laundry , housekeeping or changing the beds as this is all done for them . We like to think of it as luxury facilities with first class care and hospitality . It ’ s not like the stereotype of care homes that people have come to know .
What if you needed to change the level of care you required ? If your needs or the needs of your loved one change over the years , we have mixed levels of care across our group of homes in the Southport / Birkdale area , which means we can continue to accommodate our residents as the level of care they need changes . For example , at Hesketh Park Lodge we provide residential care , residential dementia care and general nursing care . At Parklands Lodge we offer residential care , residential dementia care and dementia nursing care , while Birkdale Tower Lodge provides residential care and residential dementia care .
My main job is to help support people , whichever level of care they are looking for , and help them determine which lodge will suit them best . We can even offer trials and give people a few weeks of respite care in a lodge to see if it meets their needs .
Our residents , certainly at Birkdale Tower Lodge , are usually 65 and over and we also have a lot of couples who move in together . Quite often , one partner may need more support than the other , or have a medical condition that they need help with . We offer higher levels of care with our residential dementia care and general or dementia nursing care so it ’ s good to know that you don ’ t have to separate from your husband , wife , or partner when you ’ ve been together for a long time .
How have you gone about dispelling the myths around moving into care ? It can be such a daunting job finding the care that you need , particularly if you ’ re acting on behalf of an elderly loved one who may have outdated views on what care homes are like , and we appreciate that . As a son , daughter , friend or family member , you may have no experience of what to do for the best and are trying to make the right decisions . It can be incredibly stressful !
People have said to us , ‘ Where do we start ?’ ‘ How can we afford it ?’, there are so many questions that they need to know the answers to , and they don ’ t always know where to go to find them .
At Athena Healthcare Group we have tried to tackle this by setting up an information Hub on Chapel Street in Southport . We ’ ve created a mock-up of one of our care homes so you can see an example of our lounges and ensuite bedrooms . Staff are on hand to answer all those questions you might be nervous about asking in a formal setting . They can talk to you about how we assess the level of care you ’ ll need , and we can signpost you to organisations to help with funding .
I think we ’ re the first and maybe the only company to have done this , and it ’ s a great non-invasive way of you inquiring and finding out more . We ’ ve even had some elderly people themselves pop in to find out about options for their own future .
Athena Healthcare Group ’ s information Hub is open daily in Southport ’ s Chapel Street , alternatively you ’ ll find more information on navigating care and their lodges at : www . ahcg . co . uk
Where do I sign up ? You can contact me directly at : LSA @ birkdaletowerlodge . co . uk . You can also contact our head office by calling 01704 53 53 53 .
18 merseylife . com