KEN’S POEMS GIVE COMFORT TO CARERS

When Ken McLoughlin’s wife Nora was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and he became her main carer, he didn’t even know what the condition was.

But the poems he subsequently wrote to help him cope with his feelings have now been published in a book called ‘Caring Poems’, and Ken hopes that they will bring comfort to others who care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s.

Newcastle-born Ken, 80, first met Nora at a Territorial Army dance in 1949 and fell in love at first sight.

He said:

“Other lads at the dance were asking if they could walk Nora home, but I said ‘no, she’s leaving with me.’

“We had our first date the next day, and after that I never had eyes for anyone else.”

Nora, also from Newcastle, was 18-years-old at the time. And despite the views of Ken’s mother, who was a Methodist and objected to Nora being Catholic, the couple married seven months later.

Ken and Nora had one son, Raymond and, due to housing shortages after World War Two, lived in Toronto for over 30 years, where Ken practiced his trade of joinery.

It was shortly after Ken retired, when they returned to England and settled back in Newcastle, that he noticed that Nora’s behaviour and moods had begun to change.

He said:

“I knew that something was not right, but it was difficult to get a diagnosis from a GP.

“When Alzheimer’s was finally diagnosed, I was devastated, and found it very difficult as I knew nothing about the illness.

“I cared for Nora for the next seven years, until I became unwell myself, and she moved into a care home. I visited her at the home every day until she died at the age of 72.”

Ken had always enjoyed writing poems, but it was while he was caring for Nora that he began to put his feelings of how he coped into poetry.

He said:

“I found writing poetry about Nora, how much I missed her and how I enjoyed our lives together, a great source of comfort.

“When I had written a number of poems, I showed them to a man I knew whose own wife had also been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and when he had read them, he said to me ‘this is my story!’“The stigma around Alzheimer’s is not what it was, but I believe that there is still a long way to go. Those with Alzheimer’s, and their families, must be given full information and support as soon as a diagnosis is made.”

“The stigma around Alzheimer’s is not what it was, but I believe that there is still a long way to go. Those with Alzheimer’s, and their families, must be given full information and support as soon as a diagnosis is made.”

After being a carer himself, Ken is now lives and is cared for at Park View Grange in Blakelaw, in an Integrated Care and Housing scheme owned and operated by Anchor Trust.

Anchor Integrated Care and Housing provides older people with independent living, via their own apartment and their own front door, but with a qualified team of carers on hand 24 hours-a-day.

The Manager of Park View Grange, Joanne Bulford, and her team of carers read Ken’s book of poetry, and thought that the poems would provide other carers and relatives with support, comfort and inspiration.

Gwen Irvine, of Anchor’s Care Specialist Team, said:

“When we read Ken’s poems, we knew that they could bring comfort and reassurance to other people whose loved ones have dementia.

“We wanted to share Ken’s poems with tenants and managers at other Anchor Integrated Care and Housing schemes across Newcastle, so Joanne and I have arranged for them to be collected together and printed as ‘Caring Poems’, with a picture of Nora on the front.”

As well as being given to other schemes, copies of Ken’s book will be available from the Newcastle branch of the Alzheimer’s Society. Please call the branch office on 0191 274 2727 for more information.

Notes to editors

1. Photo caption: Ken McLoughlin with ‘Caring Poems’, his book of poetry about his wife Nora;
2. For more information about World Alzheimer’s Day, go to www.alz.co.uk/adi/wad;
3. The North East Area Branch of the Alzheimer’s Society can be contacted at Sinclair Court, Darrell Street, Brunswick Village, Newcastle, NE13 7DS, or on telephone 0191 274 2727;
4. Anchor Integrated Care and Housing is Anchor Trust’s extra care model of housing for older people. It provides tenants with the independent living via their own self-contained apartment, with a trained team of carers on call 24 hours-a-day;
5. Anchor Trust is England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care, housing and support for older people. For more information, go to www.anchor.org.uk

Media enquiries

Please contact Joanna Nurse, Senior Communications Officer for Anchor Trust, on 0207 759 9111; 07770 314959 or at joanna.nurse@anchor.org.uk

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