Heart Disease and Fatty Foods A Myth?

The following is taken from a website called Healthy3.co.uk  and may be of interest to those people who have had a heart attack or have been prescribed the use of statins in order to lower their cholestrol levels. I take statins, having had a heart attack and as a result my cholestrol level has been maintained at a reasonable level. I’m not sure whether I would want to risk having another heart attack, as a result of having a blood clot, but the information below is very interesting

Fats- The Cholestrol Myth?

‘A cardiology specialist has written about the “myth” of saturated fat in a leading medical journal. Dr Aseem Malhotra suggests that full fat butter and cheese are not as bad for the heart as previously been suggested. This view goes against that of the majority of the medical establishment.’

‘Dr Malhotra, a cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University Hospital in London says that four decades of medical wisdom of cutting down on saturated fat to reduce the risk of heart disease may be wrong. He argues that the saturated fats have been given a bad reputation since a major study in 1970 linked high levels of heart disease with high cholesterol and high saturated intake. Dr Malhotra even suggests that eating foods that have not been processed such as cheese, butter, eggs and yoghurt may even be good for the heart.’

‘Saturated fat should not be confused with “trans fats”, which are found in margarines, cakes, chocolates and biscuits. Trans fats are universally recognised as being bad for our health, and unlike saturated fats from dairy food, do not contain any vitamins or minerals. Dairy foods are rich in vitamin A and D, calcium and phosphorus, which can help to support cardiac function.’

‘Cutting down on saturated fat has been the mantra from the health authorities, but these fats are being replaced with refined carbohydrates or sugars which are thought be more dangerous for cardiac health.’

‘The current NHS guidelines recommend that the average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day and the average woman should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day. Cutting down on sugar should be more of a priority according to Dr Malhotra.’

‘Dr Malhotra said, “From the analysis of the independent evidence that I have done, saturated fat from non-processed food is not harmful and probably beneficial. Butter, cheese, yoghurt and eggs are generally healthy and not detrimental. The food industry has profited from the low-fat mantra for decades because foods that are marketed as low-fat are often loaded with sugar. We are now learning that added sugar in food is driving the obesity epidemic and the rise in diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”’

‘Dr Malhotra also questions the mass prescribing of statin medications, as he believes that doctors are not assessing the risk of heart disease correctly. Decades of warnings that high cholesterol levels cause heart disease have led to over medication of statins in health patients, he claimed.’

‘“The fact that no other cholesterol lowering drug has shown a benefit in terms of mortality supports the hypothesis that the benefits of statins are independent of their effects on cholesterol,” he wrote in the British Medical Journal.’

‘He goes on to suggest that a Mediterranean diet is more effective than taking a statin to promote a healthy heart and cholesterol levels.’

‘Dr Malhotra also pointed out an interesting fact that although the amount of fat consumed in the US has gone down in the past 30 years, obesity rates have rocketed. This is linked to the amount of carbohydrates and sugars that are in “low fat” versions of processed foods.’

Article written by Rahul Shah and published on October 23^rd 2013

Irish Surgeon Gagged over research into Cholesterol-lowering medicines

  The following item is here reproduced from the Irish Independent newspaper website, dated 5th October 2013:

'Sherif Sultan, a senior medic at University College Hospital, Galway, reviewed a range of studies of statins and found a lack of evidence to show they should be given as a means of prevention to healthy people with  high cholesterol but no heart disease.'

'Mr Sultan and his surgeon colleague Niamh Hynes said lifestyle changes to reduce cholesterol were better because this allowed people to avoid the risk of statins' side effects.'

'However, in a statement last night, Dr Pat Nash, a cardiologist and the group clinical director in University College Hospital said the recently published views of his colleagues were "not representative" of those in Galway or neighbouring hospitals.'

 ' "As group clinical director of the West/North West Hospitals Group, and a working cardiologist, I wish to reassure patients that statins are safe," said Dr Nash.'

 ' "These are very important, well-validated drugs for the treatment of elevated cholesterol. We have extensive evidence to show their benefit and to show that they improve outcomes for patients with heart disease and stroke and that they have a role in preventing heart disease and stroke.
"As always, if patients have any concerns, they should not discontinue their medication without discussing with their GP or consultant."'

'Asked to comment, Mr Sultan said: "I have received an official warning from the HSE and have been instructed not to liaise directly with the press in my capacity as a HSE consultant." '

 'However, he said he could continue to comment as a consultant vascular surgeon at the Galway Clinic, where he has a private practice.'

'The HSE declined to comment on the reasons for ordering Mr Sultan not to speak as a public consultant.'
 
'He said he stood by his analysis of the role of statins in otherwise healthy patients with high cholesterol. He pointed to another recently published review on exercise versus drug therapy in the management of pre-diabetes and cardiovascular disease.'

 ' "That 'British Medical Journal' analysis showed the superiority of exercise over drug therapy extends even to secondary prevention (where patients have developed disease).'

' "The most convincing evidence is in stroke prevention." '

 'He pointed out that his own review had found there were benefits in prescribing some dosages of statins for certain patients who were already diagnosed with heart disease or had a history of a previous heart attack or stroke.'

CONCERNS

 'He had advised any patient who was taking statins and had concerns to talk to their doctor about them and heed their advice. '

 'Around 250,000 prescriptions for statins are written monthly and they account for 8pc of the HSE's €1.7bn drugs spend. This amounts to one euro in every €12 spent on all drugs.'

'The Irish Medicines Board has received 59 reports of suspected adverse reactions to statins since the start of 2012. Side effects include a potential increased risk of diabetes, eye cataracts and male impotence.'

 'Women who are past the menopause and who are on statins were found to have a higher chance of developing diabetes and this was associated with taking the drug.'

 'The Irish Heart Foundation said the mainstay of preventing heart disease involved lifestyle changes, including not smoking, being active, having a healthy weight and getting regular checks for blood pressure and cholesterol.'

- Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent

Irish Independent

   

Working In Theatre- Part 9

As an A.S.M. (Assistant Stage Manager) you are expected to undertake a variety of different duties as part of your job. These can range from working on The Book, which involves being in rehearsal from the first read-through, being in the rehearsal room and making notes of all the moves the actors make during the blocking during the early stages of the rehearsal of the play, right through  until the show goes onto the stage, giving cues from the prompt copy, for sound, lighting, spot effects (ie door slams, glass crashes, flying, etc  etc.) You might be expected to run the props for a play, being in rehearsal and 'plotting' props (properties) for the whole show, making sure that they are set in the correct place on set and off and that the actors get their 'personal' props (smaller items that they carry on themselves, from umbrellas, glasses, books, handbags etc. as well as things like letters, money and so on inside wallets, pockets etc.) This plotting is essential because most, if not all, props are vital to the play in some way or another. For example, if the play is a thriller or 'who-dunnit', where there is a murder, some of the props might be clues for a policeman to discover such as a revolver or knife and if it is set in the wrong place it might ruin the story of the play in question. During the rehearsal period sometimes these props can be moved to a different place on the set (or even off) and it is important for the person on 'props' to note exactly where these changes are made.

Sometimes you can expect to do some really odd things which might otherwise not be seen by the audience but which will have quite an important part to play in the over-all production. One such thing I recall was on a production of a play called "Busman's Honeymoon" at Liverpool Playhouse. It is an adaptation of one of Dorothy L. Sayers 'Lord Peter Wimsey' novels. During the course of the action  Lord Peter (Played by an actor called Neil Cunningham) uncovers a vital clue which leads to the discovery of  how the murder was done and which is the central to the  whole play. One of the characters is murdered by the fact that he/she is knocked unconscious (I'm not certain now if they weren't supposed to be killed, which I imagine they would be as the whole play revolves around a murder.) by a swinging flower-urn which is suspended from the ceiling of the set. For some unfathomable reason Lord Peter decides that the clue to this is hidden up the chimney of the cottage in which the play is set. He decides for some reason best known to himself that he will fire a rifle up the chimney to dislodge the item which is supposed to be hidden up there. (Are you with me? I hope so, as this is quite complicated to explain.) To achieve the desired effect of soot and the object (which was a chain or something, if memory serves we correctly.) it was necessary for myself to be standing off-stage on a ladder above the mocked-up stage fire-place. Actually rather precarious, not just because I had to balance on the ladder, but to also be responsible for a real weapon. (What would health and safety have to say about THAT I wonder ?) At the correct point in the play I was given a cue and had to fire off the hand-gun to simulate the rifle being fired by the actor playing Lord Peter Wimsey and at the same time tip the chain and mocked-up soot down the chimney (actually sawdust which had been dyed black.) Thinking about it now it must have looked really odd to anyone watching, someone standing on a ladder with a pistol, firing it off as  a prop rifle appears through the stage fireplace and then throwing down pretend soot. The things one does for one's art!

Working In Theatre-Part 8

From working at Greenwich Theatre I next went to work at Liverpool Playhouse. Something of a culture-shock, I suppose because it was a greater  distance from home and Greenwich was within the London area. Looking back from the vantage point of some 40 years I think I should have stayed in Greenwich, but when you are offered a job elsewhere it seemed a good move, but to be honest the move to Liverpool wasn't the best decision I've made.

I arrived in Liverpool at the weekend preceeding the opening of a production of 'Hamlet.' I have to admit to be something of a 'Hamlet' obsessive, built up over the years, but in 1971 at the age of a mere 20 years, it was something of an enigma (as I expect it would be to most people.) The previous show's set  was being 'struck' or dismantled and the new show (Hamlet) was being bought in and there would be a technical rehearsal over the following week and then several dress rehearsals and then the play would have opened on the Tuesday. 

The set was fairly straightforward, with most of it being a large coffin-shaped raked floor which came out over the orchestra pit and with most of the scenes created with 'flying' pieces, I seem to remember them being something like flags or curtains. The fly system at the time at Liverpool Playhouse was a counterweight system, as opposed to any flying being done manually, sheer brute force being involved with stage-hands pulling on ropes or 'hemps' suspended over the stage through a grid and then cleated-off on the fly floor, which is usually above the wing space in most theatres. It was one of my jobs on this production to operate the counterweight-flying for these curtain pieces during some of the scene changes, but nobody had thought to train me on the best way to operate this. During the technical rehearsal it is the stage management crew who has to be able to learn to do any scene changes that are required, along with the lighting cues, sound effects  setting of props and to make sure the actors enter on time and get used to working on the set, which up until that point they would not have seen. 

The scene changes were done in pitch black, for example, the lighting would fade on one scene and the scene change would be done in the dark and then the lights would come up on the next scene, the actors would either walk on as the lights faded up or would be discovered on stage. I was supposed to bring in one of these pieces of curtain and it was supposed to be set exactly in place, without it moving or hitting the floor and not curled up. But, unfortunately, I pulled the rope the wrong way and when the lights came up the confounded thing was there, on the stage, for all to see, in a crumpled mess on the floor. You can imagine the embarrassment for me, I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me.
This production had John Castle playing Hamlet and Joanna David playing the part of Ophelia. She is currently to be seen on I.T.V. playing the part of the Duchess of Yeovil in the series 'Downton Abbey.'

One of the problems with the counterweight system was that the ropes that operated it had to go down into the theatre basement which often got flooded and as a result of being in water these 'hemps' or ropes tended to shrink slightly, so when you came to pull on them, because they had shrunk slightly, it was very difficult to get a purchase on them, making the operation of them  very difficult and therefore smooth flying up, or down, quite difficult. 

Another job was to go up into the grid to put weights into the cradles which made the system function, the actual 'counter-weights.' This was one of my least-favourite jobs (I doubt, with modern-day health and safety regulations it would be allowed) as I suffer from vertigo and having to climb up some 50-60 feet to the grid and looking down onto the stage was not my favourite job, as well as it being very dusty up there and very hot and very unpleasant. Also, having to handle the weights and putting them in the cradles so that the scenery was balanced correctly was not very pleasant. I think at that age I was not particularly used to saying 'please don't send me up there!' but I just got on with it. I think today if I was asked to do something similar I would refuse and not feel in the least embarrassed to tell the ther person why.

Wet and Windy!

How the weather has changed! It's really wet and windy today. The leaves are beginng to come off the trees which are rapidly changing colour.A sudden gust of wind and there's a scattering of leaves across the garden. They seem to be in such a wide range of shades from yellows, right through to the brightest, almost flame-coloured reds. It's quite startling.

 It's the final week of this Half-Term and Carol's got Parents' Evening today and won't finish until well past 7 p.m. So she's really looking forward to next week's half-term break.

Working In Care- Part 8

You know, I had really very few problems with the people I actually cared for. I enjoyed the work. It did give me a sense of actually doing something worthwhile. So why were the problems that I did encounter have to do with members of staff? I think it might be that some people are under the impression that care work is easy. It might be if you are working with the elderly and infirm, but when it is those with learning disabilities and especially challenging behaviours it can be quite difficult and to be honest it takes a special sort of person to deal with the challenges that do reveal themselves. As a temp you are expected to fit in almost from the first time you appear at a home or unit. I think some of the permanent staff can be somewhat off-hand, for whatever reason, maybe because you are on a different hourly rate or come from an agency. It takes a while to build up any sort of relationship with the residents/client group, and in some cases you need to read the careplans that have been written for the residents before you can go 'onto the floor' and actually do any caring.

I worked for another agency in Bedford, whose name I shall not reveal here as it might be traced back to those members of staff involved.

I did shifts at a home in Bedford and another in Biggleswade. Generally the work there was fairly straightforward, but to get to Biggleswade did mean quite a bit of driving as it's a good 15 miles out to Biggleswade from Bedford. I used to have to take a minibus load of the residents to Bedford and deliver them to a number of places in and around Bedford, Kempston and out to Sharnbrook, a village to the north of the town and just off the A6. The first time I went I was taken by another member of staff, to show me the way. She turned out to be quite an awkward person, and constantly criticized  my driving and other things, much to my annoyance. One particular resident who had autism and needed particularly special care went out to a unit in Sharnbrook. As I was coming out I had to have help reversing into the road, mostly because I had not got used to driving the minibus. This woman, the member of staff who had come to help me find the various places, jumped down my throat and told me I didn't need help. Not a very helpful person at all. She was generally not very pleasant to work with and at one point during one shift which she worked with me on was annoyed and somewhat rude that I didn't want to  cover a another shift she was scheduled to work because she wanted to be somewhere else that particular day. I must say I was glad that I didn't do too many shifts in that house with her.

One afternoon I had to pick up some of the residents from Barnfield College in Queen's Park in Bedford. This day seemed to go as easily as any and I was just driving away from the college when I was about to turn out into Bromham Road and towards the centre of Bedford on the way back to Biggleswade. That turning is quite difficult as you can't see very clearly in both directions to make sure it is safe before making the turn as it is a very busy road at the best of times. As I bought the vehicle to a halt and applied the hand-break to make sure it was stationary and then was about to release the clutch in order to make the turn out, I couldn't get the vehicle into gear. I shifted the gear-shift several times, but with no success and then the vehicle came to a halt. It is quite a stressful operation on your own, but with a bus-load of people with varying degrees of learning disability, even more so on this occasion. I tried a few times more, but still no success. I then realised that I wasn't going to get the vehicle out of this situation and certainly not going to get the residents home safely. I thought that I was going to have to get assistance from some form of breakdown service. I eventually remembered that the was serviced by a company in Kempston and managed to ring the company and they eventually sent out a breakdown truck to pick us up and take us to their workshop to have the vehicle repaired. They had to put it on a low-loader and it took some persuasion to get all the residents into the bus (along with another agency staff member, I seem to recall.) We eventually got to the workshop and the vehicle unloaded.) Then there was the problem of us all getting back to Kempston. I called a taxi firm and the whole groups of residents, myself and the agency staff member were transported back to the house in Biggleswade. 

The next day I was again on shift at the Biggleswade house and I was given an ear-bashing by the manageress who told me that I'd taken the bus to the wrong place to have it repaired. As it turned out there wasn't much wrong with it and she told me I'd have to get a bus to Kempston and bring the vehicle back. No 'thank you' or 'you used your initiative' or 'you looked after the client-group.' Just one load of negatives which didn't exactly endear me to the woman, as you can imagine. Yes, I know I might have taken the bus to the wrong place, but how was I to know where the CORRECT place was, as I wasn't a permanent member of staff? My main concern was the safety of the residents, which I think I managed to maintain throughout the whole ordeal.
Several of the residents in that house could be quite challenging in various ways. I mentioned the young lady who I took to the centre in Sharnbrook. She was autistic and when she got up in the morning had a routine which you didn't dare to disrupt. She could be quite violent if provoked, so when she was taken anywhere in the bus it was advisable for her to be at the back and as far as possible away from the driver. In some cases she had to be transported with another carer to act as escort, but generally she was very good and I didn't see too many incidents.

Another male resident could also become quite challenging, which I saw one particular evening when I was on shift. We were on the point of serving up their evening meal and I was sent to his room to tell him that the meal was ready. I knocked on the door and I was then confronted by his with waving fists. I moved rapidly out of the way, as you can imagine, and he proceeded to run after me down stairs. I had to spend the rest of the shift hiding from him in the room provided for sleep-in staff and had to go home without him being aware, but the next time I was on shift with the manager of the house I was berated by her for not being on the 'floor' of the home for the remainder of the shift, but I wasn't putting myself in danger from being injured by this gentleman, regardless of what this woman had to say on the matter. How would she like to be injured, possibly permanently, but not keeping out of his way? I don't think she actually did any caring of any sort and managed to stay in her nice warm and comfortable office, cleverly avoiding the actual realities of caring for people with learning disabilities.
Another incident is brought to mind in the run-up to Christmas around 2003 or so. I was scheduled again for a shift at the Biggleswade house at a time when some of the residents were involved in a show that they had been rehearsing during some drama classes they had gone to at Oakley village hall. Several new members of staff had been taken on, including a young man who was supposed to be a senior support staff member. I was scheduled to drive the mini bus once more and this young man was supposed to be escort, as there was the distinct possibility of some sort of 'incident' between the residents during the journey across Bedfordshire. This young man arrived at the beginning of the shift and I was introduced to me, but on one exchange we had he was quite rude to me. There was something distinctly no quite right about him, his speech was slurred and he had a look of not being exactly engaged. He then sat down on an armchair at a bottle of vodka fell out from under his coat and onto the floor and rolled across the carpet. It was quite obvious that he was very much drunk, from drinking the aforementioned vodka. It was then that the rest of the staff and myself decided that he wasn't going to be a suitable escort on the journey to Oakley village hall. I think it may have been in his contract, as with most companies not just those in care, that the drinking of alcohol on duty was a sackable offence. The shift-leader decided that the situation was so serious that the area manager should be informed so a phone call was made  and very quickly this young man appeared in the house and to keep the Christmas show from being put into total disarray without the attendance of the Biggleswade house residents, he came with us on the minibus as escort, but looking back I don't recall what happened to the drunk support worker, whether he came with us to Oakley, but I know he didn't survive as an employee at that home as he was sacked immediately. You need to have all your wits about you in care and the thought of him not being in complete control during that journey was not something I would wish to go through.
On arriving back in Biggleswade my problems didn't end, because where I had managed to park my car, in a carpark which belonged to some sort of hall, I soon discovered that I was blocked in. No amount of enquiries would discover whose cars were responsible, so I had to return to the house and spent the night sleeping on he lounge floor. Things were made worse still because it was a very stormy night with howling wind and rain pouring down. By the morning the weather had improved and I was able to drive home because the cars that had blocked mine in had gone, thank goodness. But the last day had certainly been an eventful one, not exactly helped by not being able to drive home as planned at the end of the shift.

Working In Care-Part 7

I have to say it was quite pleasant working in residential care when we took the client group out for the day. Not that it wasn't that streightforward, far from it. There was the packing up of the minibus, loading the wheelchairs, making sure we had all the group's medicaton, as well as a picnic, which was usually prepared well in advance by the staff who had worked on the night shift.

The whole client group were involved in choosing where they went for their day out. It was never a decision made entirely by the staff. It would have been easy to just say 'let's take them out to a zoo' and just go. A short list was made and then all the residents could choose the one place they wanted to go to, and the one place with the most votes was the place to go to for a day out.

At around the time of the Queen Mother's death, the residents at Everton decided to visit London, as some wanted to visit the places that were shown on television and used during her funeral, such as Westminster Abbey. A group had only just been on a trip to visit Buckingham Palace and been on the London Eye, the entire trip having been organised carefully, as special permission had to be gained so that the minibus could be parked close to the Palace.
We had taken a group out for the day to Hunstanton, up on the Norfolk coast not far from Sandringham. I don't remember it being particularly eventful, but it was quite hard work pushing wheelchairs up and down the seafront with parts being quite steep, which, considering it was in Norfolk, a county noted for being flat. The Senior Support worker I've mentioned in the earlier post (who will continue to remain nameless.) went somewhat over-board when we went to one shop (I seem to recall we did spend a great deal of time in shops of one sort or another.) This shop is typical of the sort you seem to find at seaside resorts, selling a wide range of items, such as the usual buckets and spades, beachballs, postcards and general souveniers you get at any seaside resort, a great deal of it absolute rubbish and the sort of things that you wouldn't willingly clutter your home up with. Anyway, each of the residents was allowed to spend some of their own money on anything they liked as a souvenier of the day and each of the carers had been given an envelope containing the cash and then we helped our resident choose an item, being careful to get receipts so that the money could be put in their care plans when we returned to the house in Everton. This was all straightforward enough, but the Senior Support went crazy when he saw the cakes, biscuits and sweets that were also on sale in this shop. He obviously knew from an earlier visit to Hunstanton that this shop existed and then proceeded to purchase a quite considerable amount of these biscuits and cakes, which were being sold at very low prices  quite large quantities. He had become a bit like a child in a sweetshop when told that it can buy what it likes with money being no object. We than had to cart all these purchases back to the mini bus to be taken home. It was a bit like buying stuff from a wholesaler. I really think he should have toned down this as it was somewhat over the top and not really the sort of behaviour for someone who had a position to uphold, but it was obviously up to him how he spent his cash.
Returning to the trip to London. I arrived really early at the Everton house and we got all the residents loaded into the vehicle. I sat in the front with the driver (the Senior Support Worker who I mentioned earlier. In fact he seems to feature quite prominently in these blog posts it would appear.) As we were about to leave the house I turned to him and said "Shall I go and get the A to Z ?'" (of London, a street atlas.) which I had bought with me and was left in my car. He turned to me and said, 'No. We won't need it." I then said "We might need it to find our way around the centre of London." To which I got the reply: " We won't need it. If we need to find our way, all you have to do is wind down the bus window and shout to a passing cab-driver. They are all good at giving directions." I was totally dumbfounded and by now we had left Everton and were heading for the motorway and central London. So, I thought, you really expect me to stick my head out of the window and shout across the street to the nearest passing cabbie? Did he not think it was going to be highly dangerous? And what sort of response do you really, honestly, expect to get back from your typical London cabbie? More likely a mouthful of abuse and not directions to the next tourist attraction. Did he not think that they had better things to do with their time?
We got into the centre of London and made for Westminster Abbey. As can be imagined as it's a major tourist attraction, parking was very difficult but we had got a space booked near enough that we could unload the wheelchairs and get the residents out and then wheel them into the Abbey,  down a specially-constructed ramp for wheelchairs, going through the visitor's entrance and in front of a lot of people who had obviously queued for some time to get in. I don't think we paid, because these were people with disabilities and I'm sure none of the carers had to pay. It was not easy manoeuvering the wheelchairs plus residents around the extremely crowded Abbey. The ancient floors are not really suitable for the tyres of a wheelchair and members of the public do not want to move out of the way either and walk very slowly around such buildings so there would be jams of people at various points of the tour round. I would have liked to have had a better tour myself, having an interest in history, particularly Poets' Corner. I don't honestly think any of the residents were that interested but it was quite an interesting tour. We can't have been inside Westminster Abbey much more than an hour and then we had to find toilets which were not very well suited to wheelchair users.
Having left the Abbey and got the residents loaded back in the mini bus, the driver (my dear Senior Support Worker person, who shall remain anonymous.) said "Where next?" It was decided to go to Buckingham Palace (we were eventually going to end up at London Zoo.) so it was decided and it was myself that managed to get us down to The Mall, the avenue that leads from Admiralty Arch and directly towards Buckingham Palace. As we drove along The Mall, this driver person (who shall remain nameless!) suddenly shouted out, "Look! Soldiers!" as a groups of horses, being ridden along the street in full dress uniform, appeared from a side street. He then insisted on stopping at the side of The Mall and me getting out to take photographs with a camera he thrust into my hands. I immediately said 'No, no, we can't stop here! You mustn't stop on The Mall!" I recalled the incident some years ago when Princess Anne (now Princess Royal) had been involved in a near-disasterous incident with a stranger who threatened to kidnap her, and how it was now illegal for any vehicle to stop anywhere near Buckingham Palace. But the gentleman insisted on stopping, and at the precise moment I was about to get out of the vehicle there was a knock on the window and a soldier in full uniform told us, in no uncertain terms to please 'move along!' I was right of course, but it took some convincing to the Senior Support gentleman that we shouldn't have stopped where we had on The Mall. Some people don't want to listen when they are told or are just plain ignorant, but we could have been done for all sorts of things, from terrorism to attempted kidnapping, just because he would have it that it was perfectly alright to stop the vehicle with only yards from the Queen's residence.
We drove on and round near Buckingham Palace to give the residents a glimpse of the Queen's home and from there we went on to London Zoo. It was myself who managed to navigate as our driver had no idea where he was going but still insisting that it would be fine to ask the nearest passing cab-driver. I have a fairly good knowledge of central London, managing to find my way around because I know where most of the West End theatres are. We got to London Zoo without incident and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the animals (well, let's be perfectly honest, what else do you expect to do in a zoo?) It was a very hot day, so we had to find the shadiest places to go and make sure some of them had sun-screen on and had hats to wear.
We eventually had a rather pleasant picnic and then drove back to Everton and arrived back late.

Working In Care- Part 6

The residents of the house in Everton had a good life. They went out and about, not only going to daycare, but some went shopping with staff, not just food shopping (although most of this was done using the internet, which saved time and effort as it would be delivered by the supermarket, Tesco, just the same as  for any other customer.) but also to shop for their own things, such as clothes. The lady I supported at the daycare centre in Biggleswade also went to a lunch club which was held several days a week in a church in Brickhill in Bedford, St Mark's. They not only got a meal, served by volunteers, but could play games, such as bingo.  As the homes that the residents had been moved into when Bromham Hospital was closed in the late 1990's had many friends which they had made in the time they had lived at Bromham, it was felt that they would want to continue seeing their friends, if they had for example been moved to a home some distance away from where they lived. Everton is some way from Bedford, perhaps the furthest out from the centre of Bedford, so these lunch clubs were set up so that residents could keep in touch with their friends. There was another one in Harrold, a village the other side of Bedford, which had the same sort of remit as the one in St Marks. 

Now this lady, who was in her 80's, was a keen player of bingo, but if she didn't win she would become very upset. You try telling her that she couldn't always win,  she would get very annoyed, but we are talking about someone with a learning disability. She had an extremely strong personality and was quite wilful if she didn't get her own way, which was quite often. She was obsessed by television soaps, and watched all the regular ones such as EastEnders, Coronation Street and Neighbours. I think she more or less lived her life through these shows and would talk endlessly about the various plots and the exploits of the characters, to the point that I think she thought it was real. We had to time her bed-time to the soap's schedules, and she had to be ready for bed so she could sit and watch one or other of these programmes. I didn't actually have any interest in any soap at that time, so, in order to be able to talk about them I began to watch some of them, which was something I did so that I could interact better with her.

Each year the residents went on holiday. Not always all together as some of them had holidays on a one-to-one ratio with staff as some needed more individual attention. Another lady who lived in the house and well into her 80's, could be extremely stubborn. Well, I suppose if you had reached her age you had every right to be stubborn and difficult. She didn't like going out much and whenever she was asked she would refuse point blank. Although there was one thing that would get her to go out and that was a cream cake and a cup of tea, generally consumed at Willington Garden Centre which is not that far from Everton. Even when it was baking hot in the middle of summer she would insist on wearing her vest and a really thick coat and wooly hat! Try and prise them off her and she would get quite aggitated. When the rest of the residents were told they were going on holiday (to somewhere on the east coast, Cromer I think, but I'm not sure.) she wasn't told and was got ready on the day the mini bus was going to depart. It was quite an ordeal loading all the wheelchairs into the minibus as they had to be put in so that each could be locked using a special device which hooked over the axels and then into a sort of grooved track in the mini bus floor. This meant that the wheelchairs were firmly anchored and wouldn't move about as the mini bus moved along. It could take a good 45 minutes to get all the wheelchairs into the vehicle and loaded using a hydraulic lift on the back of the vehicle.

I enjoyed the days when, instead of merely staying in the house with the residents we took them out and about, for example, to the daycare at St Marks or to the college in Biggleswade. One Sunday when I was on shift we took some of them to Whipsnade Zoo. I have always loved Whipsnade from my childhood, so to have a free day out there, even if I was officially working was something of a bonus. Not that it was an easy day, far from it, as not only did we have to load and unload the client group in their wheelchairs, but we had to push them around all day, which was extremely hard work. We had made up a picnic so that the group could have their meal out but we also had to take all their medication with us as most of the residents were on quite a lot of medication and we had to make sure they were given this at the correct time. This also meant taking their administration charts to make sure it was all given properly and marked off correctly.
Anyway, we arrived at Whipsnade (I seem to recall I drove in my car with another agency carer, so I wasn't in the mini bus on this occasion. Perhaps it was for lack of room or something.) We unloaded the residents and then discovered that we were a wheelchair missing. The gentleman responsible (I'm not mentioning his name. I have not mentioned names on here as it might infringe confidentiality.) was a Senior Support Worker and he should really have checked before they had left Everton to make sure they had everything for an afternoon out with the client group, including wheelchairs. So while we sat in the bus, he went into the zoo to fetch a wheelchair that could presumably be hired for those customers who had a need for one. He returned a few minutes later and it turned out this wheelchair had no straps and the brakes didn't work properly. And who was it had to push this wonky wheelchair for the rest of the afternoon? You've guessed it, yours truly! And it was something of an effort as Whipsnade is not all flat surfaces. There was the possibility that the client who used the wheelchair which I was pushing might fall out without the required straps to hold him in, or the wheelchair might run away down a steep slope and he could have come out in quite a nasty accident. But fortunately nothing of that sort happened. The afternoon was unfortunately cut short when it began to rain, so it was a rather wasted afternoon, and quite a long journey from Everton to Whipsnade then back again.

Working In Care- Part 5

As I mentioned in the last post I did quite a few shifts at the house at Everton. I think I seemed to fit in with the other members of staff.  As a result I was booked there almost on a permanent basis, which meant that I knew I had a good run of work. The risk with doing any sort of temp work, whether it be industrial or care, is that you can never guarantee you will have enough work, but I was fortunate in that I had obviously made a good impression on the other permanent members of staff to be constantly re-booked for  shifts at Everton.   I also got to know the client group well which made the work a good deal easier. It had been my intention to get back to doing 'Walk-On' and 'Supporting Artiste' television work, and I was intending to get back to that sort of work eventually, and filling in with care work in between times. There were no major issues with such things as challenging behaviour, not to say that some members of the client group couldn't become quite challenging, but not of the violent type,  it was more verbal. It was nice that you could do a 12-hour day, starting as I said in the last post, at 7 a.m. and working through until 7 p.m. and going home.  This meant that I could do enough hours in a few days rather than over a seven-day period to make it financially viable. Most days were broken up into three shifts, starting at 7 and ending at around 2- 2.30, and the late shift coming on at that time and finishing at around 9-10 p.m. This was the sort of shift pattern all the N.H.S. homes throughout Bedfordshire used. At Vincent House we had to do night shifts, and these were for around a month. I don't like working nights as I'm a day sort of person and find it extremely difficult to keep awake and then to have to go home and try to sleep when it's light outside is extremely difficult. 

Not only did we have the general care tasks to perform in the home, but we had to do the shopping and cooking for the residents and part of your job you could expect to get a meal which you ate with the residents, so that was something of a perk of the job. I seemed to always get the job of preparing this evening meal and when I started my shift I would find myself in the kitchen peeling potatoes and other vegetables and making whatever was on the menu, such as cottage pie, sausage and chips or whatever.

We had to take some of the residents to daycare. I seemed to be attached to one particular client, a lady who went to Biggleswade and to a daycare centre run by Barnfield College, a sort of 'outreach' from the Luton college and a centre in Queen's Park in Bedford. She was in a wheelchair and another member of staff drove us there early in the morning and she was involved in such things as basic money-handling, personal care and drama. I was in my element with the drama part of the classes, with my background in stage management and puppetry really being put to good use. Every year the clients did a play, and it was quite amazing that people who in general had real issues regarding speech and communication could stand up on a stage and put on a show. There was a real sense that they were overcoming their problems by doing these shows. I helped with such things as scene painting and general running of the shows. These shows were watched by quite a lot of their friends and relatives and they were assessed by teachers and tutors and from this the clients were awarded certificates which were presented at a ceremony at the end of the year.

Poppy The Vanishing Dog

Panic ensued earlier today as Poppy did a disappearing act. We have had real issues with our garden fence. It is currently kept together with a combination of string, old pallets, odd plastic chairs, table tops and a range of timber oddments.  Our beloved landlord  seems absolutely unlikely to replace the fence, so it would seem we have no choice but to attempt to repair it as best we can.  Over the past couple of days it has been quite windy, with the result that one fence panel has come adrift from it's concrete post and we had to tie it up with a piece of washing line to try and prevent any sort of escape from the dogs. It is usually Alfie who is in the habit of finding himself on the wrong side of the fence and then panicking when he can't get back in, but Poppy doesn't in general make escaping a habit. If Alfie wanders off he usually decides he prefers the comforts and warmth of his home and comes back if you call, but Poppy makes no sort of sound. We have the problem of the new neighbour's cats to contend with, as well as the occasional squirrel which runs along the top of the fence, and so causing no end of turmoil when either dogs sees them. I think the cats have a habit of sitting on the roof of the rapidly-deteriating shed and making out as if they rule the roost as it were, knowing full well that neither dog can catch them, both dogs setting up an awful noise of howling, barking and Poppy in particular starting a strange sound that sounds as if it would wake the dead! The other day Alfie got inside the shed, and I managed to coax him out, and I discovered a cat sitting on an ancient mattress at the back of the shed. The door of this shed is completely off it's hinges and it is quite an effort of lean the door up to prevent Alfie getting inside. Also there seems to be a hole at the back of the shed which goes out into the wooded area behind the house and running along the Redway, so we assume that is one route for him getting out. The shed is in such poor condition that there really is no more we can do to salvage it and prevent the dogs getting inside, particularly when the cat is in residence.

Any, Poppy generally sticks by Carol when she is in the house and wasn't to be found when Carol had her early-morning bath this morning. I went downstairs to find the dog, and called for her. She did not respond in any way shape or form, which was unlike her. Rattle the box we have which contains their favourite treats and both dogs will rush in from the garden. I looked in all her favourite places in the house but could not find her anywhere and it was at this point that we both panicked somewhat. Carol got dressed quickly and we both went out of the house with Carol going towards the canal along the Redway and myself going towards the footbridge on the way to the Academy. Calling all the while but absolutely no response from Poppy. 

I went back into the house and was about to call the Academy to let them know that Carol would arrive late this morning, when suddenly Poppy reappeared through the patio doors, almost as if nothing had happened and there had been no panic when she had suddenly disappeared. I waited for Carol to come back in, which she did after a few minutes. We still don't know how Poppy got out or even how she managed to get back in. No end of calling had not got her to bark or make a noise to alert us to her whereabouts. But the panic was over and we had her back, safe and sounds, but it seems we will now have to make some real effort to mend the fence as best we can to prevent a further incident.

Working In Care- Part 4

From working at Macintyre (which wasn't the happiest of experiences, of which I am not going to discuss here.) I went off to join several temp agencies in Bedford and did industrial temping, working in such places as a factory making cook/chill meals, working on a production line packing flowers for some well-known supermarkets (an experience in itself. Whenever I go into a supermarket such as Tesco and I see the flowers which are generally on display near the entrance, I get a shiver down my spine as I recall the long hours standing packing similar blooms near Sandy, Bedfordshire.) packing Christmas cards and even sticking items inside magazines out on an industrial estate in the north of Bedfordshire at the dead of night, and returning home at around 6 a.m. Not nice.

Having done this type of work for around a year to eighteen months, during which time I had no car, I eventually saved up enough cash to eventually purchase a new car and then sign up with a care agency in Bedford called Care On Call. I reckoned that I would actually prefer that sort of work to being treated rather badly as an industrial temp.  I have to say I rather enjoyed the work, even though my experience of working for Macintyre wasn't exactly great. There were quite a few instances when, as a temp, I was expected to arrive at a particular office of one agency at some unearthly hour of the morning, for example 6.30, and be expected to then board a mini bus and be taken miles to some industrial estate in the middle of nowhere and start work on a production line, but on many cases then to be informed that your presence is no longer required and have to wait hours before you can expect to be transported back to central Bedford.  In some cases you have to pay the agency £10 for them to ferry you home at unexpected times of day. Just a clever way for them to make money out of you. Or to be taken somewhere you weren't expecting, not being informed and then working in another industrial unit without your knowledge until you arrive.

Anyway, having signed up with Care On Call, as with anything to do with care, you then have to go through the process of providing a great deal of paperwork to prove your identity, your bank statement, ultility bills, etc etc as well as paying a fee for a C.R.B. check to be made before you can work for them. Once that is done, which can take several weeks, you have to undertake the mandatory training which includes manual handling, fire safety, etc etc. I have done manual handling numerous times and can perhaps parrot the whole course off the top of my head I've done it so many times. One agency I signed up for, which will remain nameless, would give you a set of DVDs to watch for training purposes and a sheaf of paperwork to fill in, in the expectation that you will fill these in having viewed the DVDs, and this was very easy as all you had to do was stop and start the DVD to find the answers to the questions in the paperwork we were given. This on such subjects as fire safety, infection control and protection of vulnerable adults. Quite honestly, not a very good method of delivering this sort of information. Once you'd completed the paperwork satisfactorily you were then given a certificate. As someone said, Sam Goldwyn I think, not worth the paper it was printed on.And to cap it all I was expected to fork out something like £25 to this agency for the privilege. You might call it a total rip-off.

When I did eventually get out working for Care On Call I found the agency quite good to work for. You'd get a telephone call to ask if you could fill a shift, the next day, or even an hour or two hence. I did shift in many of the N.H.S. homes for learning disabilities that had opened up since Bromham Hospital closed at the end of the 1990's. Some of these are out in the out-lying villages, such as Oakley, Harrold, Carlton, Bromham,  Wilstead as well as several within Bedford town itself. I then did some shifts at one home at Everton, on the road to Potton. This was called Country Cottage, actually a bungalow, and it's residents were elderly people with learning disabilities. It was quite a pleasure driving the 12-or so miles out through Sandy and across the A1 and part of the drive went through a very attractive wooded area near Sandy Heath. During the spring there were bluebells in the woods and I even saw munkjack deer wandering across the road, which made the journey all the more interesting. What made this particular place good to work in was that the hours of work were from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., which meant I could get home in good time. By 7 p.m. most of the work was completed and so I was able to go home then, but staff remained until the usual time of around 9 p.m. when the night shift began.

Working In Care- Part 3

We had to deal with a wide range of challenging behaviours at Vincent House, from those clients who screamed, bit, scratched and generally behaved in all manner of different ways. We were trained in what was called Control and Restraint. Most of those members of staff who had been working there the longest had been trained in this, but those of us who were new had to go through quite a rigorous week's training to obtain a certificate which allowed us to use this technique in times when certain clients needed handling in a specific manner. We were also trained in what was called breakaway, which allowed us to deal with clients who could pull you hair, hold on to you etc etc. This was very useful and I had to use this on several occasions. The training was done in an old ward at Bromham Hospital. It took me two attempts before I gained my certificate.

I eventually had to leave Vincent House when I was hit quite severely by one particular client and have still got the scars of this incident, not physical, but two of my upper spinal discs have been damaged as a result and I was put off work for several months and then I had to resign. I eventually got a job working at Macintyre Care at Westoning in Hathaway House. This was a similar situation to Bromham Hospital in that the wooden accomodation had outgrown it's usefullness since they had been built in the late 1960's when Macintyre was set up and had by then got to the point where they were not safe for habitation, being fire hazards and it was decided to re-home the residents there into new homes in the same way as the residents had been who had lived in Bromham Hospital.

It must have been a real shock to some of them, if not all, as at Bromham Hospital most of the services were 'on-site,' with things like dentistry, sensory, etc were there within waling distance of their accommodation, and the residents lived on large wards with around ten people living in one large, communal ward, with meals served at set times. To suddenly live in a suburban setting, with no more than six other people, must have been an almighty culture shock. They would have their own rooms, and have to make decisions such as what to eat, what to wear and even what sort of wallpaper they would have in their rooms. Some had the option to actually choose what to eat and even when to eat the food, and go shopping for it.

Working In Care- Part 2

I have mentioned in an earlier post my time working in care (hence this post being labelled 'working in care- part 2).

I will discuss here the earlier stage of my carework career. 

I did some voluntary work for Macintyre care in the late '80's, at their school in Westoning, near Flitwick, Bedfordshire. I worked mainly in the workshops, supporting some of the residents, making masks, puppets etc and sometimes taking them out into the communtiy, for example, swimming. It seems amazing looking back that they didn't appear to run any sort of criminal checks, although they might have done a Police check on me (now superceded by C.R.B., Criminal Records Bureau).  I also did a job working in an old people's home to increase my income, at a home in Bedford called Hextle House in Linden Road, doing the odd weekend shift, so I had quite a bit of experience of care work,  so by the late 90's, having done a lot of industrial  temp work, I decided to get a full-time care job working with people with learning disabilities. I applied for several N.H.S. jobs, and in one particular week I had three job interviews, one for  the job of support worker at a home run my the N.H.S. in Merton Road in Bedford, another for the Sensory Department at Bromham Hospital and the last for a support worker role at Vincent House, which I eventually got. The interviews were held at Bromham Hospital, and as the interviews were over the same week I met several of the same people who interviewed me over the three days. I was sure I was going to get one of the jobs, but not the Vincent House job. Having got the job, I didn't immediately start work as the manager, had to attend her mother's funeral in Ireland so the induction for the job was delayed by around six weeks (this was in 1996). 

Vincent House is/was (I'm not certain whether it is still open.) an assessment and treatment unit for people with learning disabilities who presented extreme challenging behaviours. The house, which is on the outskirts of Bromham,  a village just outside Bedford and on the road to Northampton, had been shut down for refurbishment and some of the original staff were re-employed for the re-opening, but I joined just as they were taking on new staff members. Bromham Hospital had been the home of a quite large number of people with learning disabilities and this was about to close, with the residents being moved out of the hospital setting and into houses within the community around various villages and towns around Bedfordshire, under the government's 'Care In The Community' policy. I did quite a few shifts for the N.H.S. on their Carebank register as a sort of 'warm-up' for work at Vincent house and worked in several of those homes between Luton and North Bedfordshire which gave me quite a bit of experience. Most shifts began at around 7 a.m and ran until 2 p.m. and late shifts from 2-2.30 p.m. until around 9-10 p.m. So being in care you have to accept that you are going to have to work unsocial hours and also work weekends. At Vincent House we had also to do nights, which I found very difficult as I am a day sort of person. I will mention this more as I continue writing this.
We did eventually start the induction process, which ran for several weeks. It was a period spent at Twinwoods, which had formerly been Clapham Hospital, and now run as the headquarters for the learning disability department of what was then Bedfordshire and Luton N.H.S. Trust, who was my employer and ran not only Vincent House but all the other learning disabilities homes which had been opened to house the residents of Bromham Hospital which I have mentioned earlier was being closed down. The manor house had been used as the administrative centre for the N.H.S. learniing disabilities service and was where I went for my inital interview. There were several houses built for the learning disabilities department at The Glades, but the rest of the Bromham Hospital site was sold for housing and the mansion became a private dwelling. Vincent House was on the road running out of Bromham and around three miles from Bromham Hospital.
The purpose of Vincent House was for the assessment and treatment of clients of the learning diabilities service who presented challening behaviours that the staff in the homes couldn't cope with and where they used various techniques to try and deal with the behaviours, different medications and care procedures, then the clients were returned to their respective homes in the community.
Amongst my jobs was to be a key worker for a number of the clients in our care, looking after their day to day care, buying their clothes, reviewing their medication and generally building up a relationship with them so as to care for them successfully.

Initial Trials for new cholesterol drug

I found the following article on the 'Mature Times' website. It was published on Wednesday 2nd October 2013.

 'A new approach to cholesterol-lowering that targets a regulator of harmful LDL cholestrerol could offer new treatment for patients with high  cholesterol, researcher have concluded.'

'The drug, called ALN-PCS, blocks production of the cholesterol regulator PCSK9, a protein that destroys receptors that normally clear harmful cholesterol from the blood.'

'In a trial involving 32 healthy volunteers with mildly to moderately raised LDL, or ‘bad’ cholesterol, people were randomly assigned to receive either an injection of ALN-PCS or saline as a placebo.

A single dose of ALN-PCS was shown to cut levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol by up to 57 per cent.'

'Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “People with extremely high cholesterol are at increased risk of a heart attack and this approach could offer new hope for those who are resistant to statins.'

 '“These initial results add to growing evidence that blocking the action of a certain protein can dramatically lower ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol. More research is now needed to confirm this approach is both safe and effective at preventing heart attacks in the long term before it becomes widely available.” '

The study was  originally published in The Lancet.

I personally dislike being referred to as 'mature.' Makes me sound like an over-ripe cheese. 

Four Things That Happen Before a Heart Attack

These 4 Things Happen Right Before a Heart Attack

I reproduce below an article I found on a website called Newsmax health and written by S.A. Nickerson. It was published first on 23rd August 2011. I reproduce it here as I hope it might help anyone who has had or might possible have a heart attack because they have a family history of heart-health problems. 'Despite what you may believe, heart attacks rarely happen "out of the blue." '

'In fact, your body may be trying to warn you of an impending heart attack for days, weeks, perhaps even a month or two before it occurs. Unfortunately, by the time you actually recognize you’re suffering a heart attack, it could be too late to prevent death or debilitating heart damage.'

'So-called silent heart attacks, with signs and symptoms that are mild or seem unrelated to the heart, have long concerned cardiovascular expert Dr. Chauncey Crandall. So Dr. Crandall recently created a special free video presentation about the four most sinister warning signs to watch for.'

'Statistics show a clear link between a delay in heart attack treatment and death or disability. That’s why it’s essential to know exactly what your heart is trying to tell you with warning signs like those discussed in Dr. Crandall’s video.'

'Although developed as an educational tool, this video rapidly went viral, surpassing 5 million viewers in just a few months.'

'Newsmax Health Publisher Travis Davis attributes the viral sensation to the fact that the content hits close to home for many Americans, especially because heart disease is America’s #1 killer. In fact, in the U.S. alone, nearly 1 million people suffer their first heart attack each year.'

'Dr. Crandall, chief of the cardiac transplant program at the renowned Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Palm Beach, Florida, practices on the front lines of interventional, vascular, and transplant cardiology.'

'Decades of clinical experience have afforded him the chance to detect little-known warning signs and symptoms like the four he addresses in the video.'

'Plus, in the video  Dr. Crandall also tells the real-life story of one man who suffered a “widow-maker” heart attack after ignoring the warning signs — and almost paid the ultimate price. The story is scary but eye-opening, because Dr. Crandall outlines what could have been done to actually prevent this from progressing to the life-threatening stage.'

'Dr. Crandall, medical editor of the Newsmax publication Heart Health Report, has a positive message: you don’t have to be a sitting duck for a deadly heart attack. In fact, according to Dr. Crandall, heart disease can be prevented — and even reversed — with the right information and simple lifestyle adjustments.'

© 2013 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.