Flowers for Brookdale Resource Centre

by
20th February 2016

Above: Cath Regan (left) with some of those receiving flowers on the day at the Brookdale.

Brookdale Resource Centre

Day care service for older people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Valentine’s Day may have passed, but those recently attending the Brookdale Centre in Ainsdale had flowers galore provided for them by Sainsbury’s Lord Street branch in Southport.
The flowers were warmly accepted and thanks were expressed to Sainsbury’s by both the Manager and Friend’s group member, Cath Regan, on behalf of Centre members.
Sainsbury’s representative Nicky Plaistow, who together with Brenda Porter, organised the surprise delivery, expressed her delight that the flowers had brought so much pleasure.
“The intention”, said Nicky, “was that each person attending the Centre would receive a bunch of flowers and we are pleased this is exactly what happened”.
Background on the Friends of Brookdale and the campaign to save this much needed service

Brookdale Resource Centre is situated in Sandbrook Road, Ainsdale, Southport.

It is the only Dementia specialist care centre in a catchment area of approximately 150,000 people.

The council proposed to close it and move everybody across to another centre. A group was formed (Friends of Brookdale) to save the centre. After a strong and emotional campaign, the centre was saved in March 2015.

Friends of Brookdale Facebook page.
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Above: Friends of Brookdale celebrating after the successful campaign to retain the Centre.

This unit with specialist trained staff provides a day care service for older people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia and deals with cases from early onset to the later stages of the illness. It provides a vital life-line for carers giving them the required respite whilst being assured of the safety, health and well-being of their loved ones at the centre. 

On 23rd June 2015 a meeting was held by the Friends of Brookdale group with Cllr Paul Cummins; also in attendance was Marcus Roberts from Sefton Council. Many questions were raised by the carers present.

However it is now February 2016 and promised improvements to this essential service appear to currently be nonexistent. 

Cllr Cummins confirmed  back in June 2015 that money was available for the improvements needed, such as car park resurfacing and structural improvements. He stated that the council had a commitment to carers’ involvement in any changes/improvements and that we would work together on this.

Carers stated that concerns over referrals were slow to come through and that some professional agencies were not telling people in need about the service offered by Brookdale. Road signage was required and marketing was needed to ensure this essential service was easily found by people.

Cllr Cummins listened and promised to look into the problems faced.

It was stated that in order to develop Brookdale to ensure the delivery of care stays excellent, Sefton needed to look into training needs, physical structure and referral rates.

Friends of Brookdale also met on Thursday 27th August 2015 with Penelope Fell, Chief Operating Officer and Dave Hughes, Business Development Officer from New Directions.

Many items were discussed including the promotion and organisation of the services offered, quality of care, referrals and the lack of information sometimes from Health and Social Care.

Discussions began with the background of the Friends of Brookdale, which led into how carers found difficulties in balancing caring for a family member whilst working at the same time. Many relatives had needed to give up work in order to manage, which ultimately led to businesses being affected.

Relatives stated how the quality of care in nursing homes fluctuated greatly and how it was all down to the staff and continuity of care, which made the most difference.

The relatives present at the meeting stated that they found Brookdale by accident, Social Services and from the advice of nurses.

There seemed to be a total lack of information forthcoming from Health and Social Care. Ms Fell had spoken to the Council re referrals, but the Council seemed to not be aware of any problem.

CALL FOR: CHILDREN’S UNIT AND ADDITIONAL DEMENTIA SERVICES FOR AINSDALE,SOUTHPORT

brook 2

The area close to where the Brookdale is situated is in an appalling  state of repair. 

The Sandbrook Way issues have been well reported in the press of late, due to run down buildings and discussions to improve them falling through.
Due to this I started a petition to improve the area and extend the wonderful Brookdale Resource Centre. We already have over one hundred signatures on this.
Please click this link below and sign to show your support, for this area becoming an area for health and well being.
Here are my thoughts:
  • The proposals put forward up to now have been a supermarket. Do we REALLY need another supermarket and in such a close locality to Ainsdale Village?
  • By extending the services already offered by the Brookdale, it can give much more support to families and possibly offer longer care. Maybe even overnight care.
  • Southport lost it’s children’s A & E services back in 2003. We need to get urgent care services back for the families. Ormskirk is too far away.
  • Ainsdale is the prime situation for these health services, as it stands central to Formby, Southport, Crossens and Hesketh Bank.
  • This is a large area and could hold all the much needed vital services that would help all ages.
  • We already have a large Health and Wellbeing Centre (which I think is currently underused) and Dementia specialist care centre.
  • If my proposals were taken seriously, then the effect on families would be groundbreaking and extremely positive for our whole community.
Cath Regan © 2016
Owner/Manager Pine Pixies Pre-School

 

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