I suppose I’d better give any of my readers a little background. I am going to call myself Fiona. (Mainly because everyone on my placements seems to think I’m called Fiona or Heather! it beats “The student” anyday) I am a first year mental health nursing student, and I am studying in Scotland. I’ve worked in care since I was 18, so seven years now. I started off as an activities co-ordinator, and then moved on to become a dementia specialist carer. I studied to be an Occupational therapist for a while, but it wasn’t quite for me. I think I thought it was more like nursing. I have always loved working with people with Dementia. I know it’s not everyones favourite subject, but I love it. I love hearing peoples stories, I love working with people. And even though I say it myself, I’ve got a pretty active imagination for getting round “Problem” behaviours. I’m now in my first year of my nursing course, so a lot of these little stories will be about the people I have worked years with. There will also be some of my placement experiences.



This is mostly for myself, so I don’t forget all the people I meet. Even though I know they’ll forget me. I believe that the everyday is wonderful. Everyday stories make up life. And I believe that the strength of Nurses is to do the extraordinary, and make it everyday. I hope you enjoy. If you’ve any questions, please ask.

Memories of the Beeches. As I’ve said before, I used to work in a nursing home called The Beeches. It is in rural scotland, and is at least a mile away from the town. All of this lead to the most beautiful grounds. I remember many a nightshift watching the stars, while listening for buzzers. I worked in the EMI (Elderly Mentally Infirm) unit. And today I’m going to tell you about a lovely lady I worked with, who I’m going to call Nina. Nina was a German lady, she had come to us as a “holy terror” she was ridiculously strong, and I had been told tales of her pulling doors off the frame, and tipping wardrobes over if you stopped her doing something. But by the time I worked there Nina had mellowed. Nina was bilingual. She would usually speak to us in english, with peppered german words throughout. I used to be one of her main carers, (I think I must have reminded her of someone, as she always called me Dolly, and usually co-operated with me). Because of that I got the lovely job of escorting Nina to the dental hospital. Now, I do not speak German. The only German I have been able to retain is “Es tut mir leid Nina Ich spreche kein Deutsch, Können Sie sprechen Englisch bitte?” (I’m sorry Nina, I can’t speak German, can you speak English please?) none the less, Nina had days where she would just smile at us, and carry on talking to us in German. Today was one of those days. Now, because I worked in such a rural area, it was about an hour to the nearest hospital. So we passed it, myself chatting in English, Nina in German. We got to the hospital, and I went with Nina and got her Clerked in. I went with her to hold her hand as she was put under anaesthetic. Luckily the Anaesthetist spoke German! So he talked to Nina in German, and she answered in….. English! She insisted on talking to me in German, and him in English the entire time while they checked her over before her general. Another quick story about Nina. She was sat at the kitchen table one afternoon, we were just about to serve the lunchtime soup. When a fly landed straight in front of her. Nina stared at it for a minute, and then began talking to it in German. She talked for about five minutes, and the fly just sat there. To this day we joke that it was someone she knew. Never seen a fly so still.