Tricia O’Leary is an SRN nurse who originally worked in Oxford at the Churchill hospital. She has worked at Vale House since it opened in 1990. Vale House works with older people who are suffering from dementia, and it is Rotary Oxford’s President’s charity for this year.
Dementia means a reduction in mental faculties. The biggest single cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, but many conditions may give rise to dementia such as a stroke, genetic disposition, head injury, brain tumour, etc.
In 1990 at the time that Vale House was set up, there was no proper dementia care in Oxfordshire. Originally a house was being bought in West Way in Botley, but just before purchase it was found that the house had a problem. At the time, the Vale of the White Horse Council was undertaking an unrelated development in Botley and the organisers asked the council whether it could extend the existing development for the dementia care facility. They did so, and Vale House rented the facility from them. The name of Vale House is after the Vale of the White Horse Council.
Vale House accepts people who suffer from dementia in its severest and most difficult forms and it supports them (as well as their loved ones) until the end of their lives. It has residents ranging from 62 years old to 95.
Dementia itself means a reduction in mental faculties and it is an organic disorder of the brain. The sufferer becomes more and more mentally disabled and eventually it becomes a physical disability as well, hence Vale House’s need for beds. Ultimately at the end, speech, hygiene, and the physical body are all affected. Eventually caring needs become too great for the spouse or the family to deal with, which is when facilities such as Vale House are needed.
Tricia estimated that something like 1.5 million people probably suffer from dementia in the UK. Some will die of other conditions before dementia really sets in, and others will eventually suffer from dementia. For each person suffering from dementia Trisha estimated there are probably 2.5 more carers who are impacted.
The ratio of sufferers is 62% female and 38% male. To some extent this may be because women live longer, and the effect on the male population of wars etc. But as time goes on that proportion may change and even up. The likelihood is that more and more of us will eventually get dementia because we are tending to live longer.
Dementia charities (including Vale House) tend to be underfunded because elderly issues charities tend to be less appealing to donors compared with charities involving children or animals for example.
Tricia expressed her concern about the lack of knowledge about elder issues and dementia in particular in acute hospital settings. She said this has been a constant theme even since she was doing her own training. Doctors, nurses and medical carers have a limited understand dementia and consequently much of Vale House’s work is outreach work, to help medical professionals to have a better understanding of dementia sufferers and their needs. This is particularly necessary given that around 65% of patients at the John Radcliffe are older people. Tricia told us that she would really like to encourage Oxford Brookes nursing students to spend a placement at Vale House as part of their training.
