Another Camphill Tuesday

Another day at Camphill. It was a relatively straightforward drive there, which made a change, Because I can generally expect aggression from other drivers, but I imagine that the run was more or less stress-free because it's half term this week. No parents dropping off their beloved offspring at Oakgrove School, which is on the roundabout at the intersection of Chaffron Way and Brickhlll Street, and any other Tuesday I could expect to be held up by hoards of inconsiderate parents, pulled over in a dangerous fashion, as they drop of their children, and usually there's a long line of cars waiting to get onto the roundabout and then similar line of cars at the various roundabouts along Brickhill Street.

We didn't immediately do anything concerning the drama workshop in the morning, because there was staff training, which was done in the Chrysalis Theatre. It was on fire safety, something which I have already done, as part of my training when I worked for a care agency in Bedford, called Care On  call, and, of memory serves, when I originally worked for the N.H.S., and done as part of my induction when I eventually worked at Vincent House, although, originally, I worked through what was called the Care Bank, and then worked in several of the N.H.S. learning disabilities throughout Bedfordshire.

It was decided that the drama workshop group, including myself, could attend the training session and we could sit in the balcony of the theatre. Only problem with this, regardless of the fact that the seats were a good deal more comfortable than those used by the Camphill staff in the main body of the theatre, sitting below us, was that it was difficult to hear clearly what the gentleman who gave the talk was saying. If he'd used a microphone of some sort it would have been considerably better, but never mind. I don't think the people who give these sorts of talks ever beed to use microphones. It was good to know something about fire extinguishers. It's as well to know which one to use on what sort of fire, for example, if it was paper, wood, gas or electrical. If you were to use water on an electrical fire you could be killed, due to shock, and that there are different extinguishers, water, foam etc. Also, that the horn on a foam extinguisher can cause frost bite because the horn and the pipe leading to it gets extremely cold. Not something you would realise otherwise. When I did my initial induction back in the late 1990s before working as a support worker for the N.H.S. Learning Disability service around Bedfordshire, I learnt this at the fire safety course, and we saw several fire extinguishers being used and you soon realise that they don't last long when discharged, you only get around 2 minutes, so you can't afford to waste time otherwise you will waste the contents on not actually extinguishing a fire. Also, virtually the first thing we were told was to not use wedges (or anything else) to keep doors open. So, what happens? The first shift I did, I can't remember where exactly, but they HAD WEDGES TO KEEP THE DOORS OPEN, because so many of the residents in this particular home used wheelchairs and it would have been extremely difficult to not have doors wedged open.

Well, at least I will get a certificate to prove that I had done the course. It would be awful if there was a fire (and I certainly hope there will never be.) and I didn't know how to deal with it.

Once the course was over, (and it ran from 10.00-11.30, which meant we didn't get a tea-break!) we set up to do a run-through of 'Stranger Danger,' and we had the entire complement of actors, so I didn't stand in for anyone missing, although I did do some prompting. We were realeased for lunch 8 MINUTES early, to make up for not having a tea break earlier and when we returned we did more rehearsal and then Teo decided that, by around 3, we wouldn't do any more rehearsals.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Tao is going to be going away for a couple of weeks (I think it's three weeks, going skiing, but I'm not sure where. Last time he went, apparently he had an accident and had to be air-lifted home. He broke a leg, and the residents made it clear to him that he mustn't do it again!!) we had to choose three films which could be used as the basis for improvisations, when each of our actors (including Co-Workers and volunteers) had to nominate a favourite film, which they had copies of on DVD. After a sort of television talent show voting system, where we had to vote on what each had nominated, and the results scores gradually whittled down the list to just three films, which turned out to be 1- 'The Sound of Music; 2- 'Oliver!' and 3: Monty Python: And now For Something Completely Different.' So, next week we will be watching selections of each of these films (obviously there won't be enough to watch them in their entirety.) Then we will be put into groups and each group will create an improvisation based loosely on the film each group chooses. I can't wait to see what comes out of this. It was the same way we began developing the 'Treasure Island' project. The group watched a video of the original Robert Louis Stevenson novel, but it was just the jumping-off point to develop the play, which won't be a direct adaptation, but themes, characters and plots are the basis for a totally original piece of theatre.

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.