Tag Archives: carers
How love of Billy the stray cat has finally brought four-year-old autistic boy out of his shell
- Billy has made a complete difference to the family home, bringing happiness and an air of calm
By Liz Hull
PUBLISHED: 00:04, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 12:11, 16 June 2012
Even simple tasks used to be fraught with difficulty for Fraser Booth.
The four-year-old, who is autistic, easily became overwhelmed by everyday events, resulting in tears and temper tantrums.
Then Billy the stray cat came along. Abandoned by his previous owner and rescued from a boarded-up council house by a charity, he had not had the easiest start to life.
But since their first meeting, Fraser and Billy have been inseparable – and the moggy has helped bring the little boy out of his shell.
Now, whether it’s playtime, storytime or bedtime, Billy is there to offer a reassuring paw.
And he is the first to sense when Fraser is getting frustrated, calming him down with a cuddle or comforting purr.
Fraser’s mother Louise said: ‘If Fraser is around or playing in the garden, Billy is never far away. It is like he is watching Fraser and calming his behaviour.
He always appears when Fraser is getting upset and offers his head close to Fraser’s to reassure him and recently, when Fraser was poorly, Billy sat on his lap all day.
Care home nurses to be taught to play board games with dementia patients to stop them being prescribed chemical cosh
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
PUBLISHED: 00:22, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 00:22, 16 June 2012
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
Under a Government-backed scheme, they will be encouraged to help patients with hobbies such as baking and painting in the hope it will help their symptoms.
It follows concerns that thousands of the elderly with dementia are being given drugs to sedate them and stop them wandering off.
Such drugs – dubbed a ‘chemical cosh’ – have been found to double the risk of death and actually worsen patients’ symptoms leaving them unable to walk or speak coherently.
Over the next few month nurses in 150 care homes in the UK will be trained to care for patients as people, rather than just a condition.
They will be taught to find out what hobbies patients used to enjoy when they were younger and encouraging them to take part in the activites in the care home.
Work begins on new £850k respite centre for carers
WORK has begun on a new respite centre for people with disabilities and their families in Burton.
The Mail reported last month how Staffordshire County Council planned to build the five-bedroom centre in Hawthorn Crescent, Stapenhill.
It will replace the existing Stretton Edge centre, in Hillfield Lane, and will offer high quality, wheelchair accessible accommodation.
Staffordshire County Council said the £850,000 centre would focus on ‘dignity and respect for each individual and the highest quality service’, while providing a vital break for carers.
Andrew Clarke, whose 36-year-old son has Down’s Syndrome, is one of the carers involved in the project.
