Husband of Scarborough care home resident happy to take wife outside
The husband of a Scarborough care home resident says he is really pleased he is able to take his wife for a low-risk trip outside.
The husband of a Scarborough care home resident says he is really pleased he is able to take his wife for a low-risk trip outside.
Alan Ashton, 74, has been visiting his wife Susan, 74, who has dementia, at Saint Cecilia's for the past five years.
She is now able to take a walk or visit the family garden without needing to self-isolate on her return back to the care home, after Government rules were relaxed earlier this week.
Alan said:
"I'm really pleased. I have her wheelchair ready to use, I have an electric wheelchair to use to take her out. It's all charged and ready to go. We hope that the weather is better and warmer again.
"It will make quite a lot of difference because I do think that it doesn't do them any good to be indoors all the time without getting some fresh air and a bit of sun of them. I think it makes you feel better even if you're not aware of it.
"It'll be nice to just take her down on the seafront and just get an ice-cream and just sit on hopefully a nice day in the sun.
"The fact that visiting opened up again has made quite a lot of difference to her. In a general manner, she's quite a lot happier because she's seeing me, she's seeing one of her sons and even though she doesn't actually express it, she is much happier because the carers say so.
"I'm quite pleased. It makes me happier too. It's been a very long and hard year but we are now, providing people are sensible, getting towards the end of it; wearing masks and being extra careful isn't just going to go away overnight.
"Where now one has supervised visits where a carer is with you, it would be nice to have some privacy and they're resident visits rather than prison visits so to speak. I think everything has to be done slowly step-by-step."