CSAN Blog

International Migrants Day

  

From CSAN Public Affairs

The concept of home and identity is particularly important at Christmas and yet there are still thousands of refugees and migrants risking the journey to Europe at this time of year in terrible weather conditions.

CSAN has been working on immigration for a number of years. Most recently we sent a delegation to the ‘Jungle’ in Calais in September. The aim of the visit was to meet the people living in terrible conditions on a small strip of land near the French coast, and to hear their stories.

A 42 year old Afghan man named Ahmed fed our delegation with food from a restaurant he set up in the camp and refused to take money for it. This was typical of the generosity shown to CSAN throughout the visit. We hope we showed solidarity with him and the others gathered by sharing food, an act that makes us all equal.

We saw the camp through the eyes of our partners in France, Secours Catholique, who work every day to help make life a little bit more safe and dignified for more than 6,000 people who live in the camp. For instance, there were recent reports that asbestos has been discovered in the ‘Jungle’, used as building materials and surfaces to eat food from. With Doctors of the World, Secours Catholique have since successfully lobbied the French government to install standpipes for water, toilets and to arrange rubbish collections in the ‘Jungle’.

The stories we heard and lives we saw have laid the basis for our policy work on migration. Our advocacy work has centred on writing submissions to the Immigration Bill, which continue to be discussed in parliament.

At the recommendation of Seeking Sanctuary – a new charity working in Kent and headed by our member Ben Bano together with J&P Kent – and Caritas France, we’ve raised £7,000 which helped buy a new van to safely transport women and children and goods in the camp.

The Church values everyone’s right to live free from persecution and lead a productive life. Cardinal Vincent Nichols recently spoke out about the UK government’s response to the refugee crisis by saying “progress is slow, but the plight of refugees cannot wait.”

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) views the family as the basic cell of society and speaks of its sanctity. As Christmas approaches, it is significant to remember how Pope Benedict spoke of the Family of Nazareth in his 2007 address on ‘The Migrant Family’ and see the parallels with the fragility of the contemporary migrant family.

We look to CST to argue that asylum claims should be managed based on the human dignity of the migrant during the process of having a claim heard and in seeking integration into a new community. CST suggests a right and duty to enable migrants to have access to full social, economic, civic, political participation.

Immigration detention for purely administrative purposes and without time limit also frustrates human dignity through isolating the human person from the basic network of relationships (family, legal, work-based, spiritual) necessary for fostering basic human dignity. Pope Francis has made repeated visits to sites of detention to highlight his solidarity with those detained and to make these facilities more visible.

So, this International Migrants Day, let’s value the dignity and sanctity of the migrant family and welcome those who journey to our communities with open arms.

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Cherishing older people

  

Edward De Quay, Development Worker for Caritas Westminster

As a society, it is important that we are confident to respond to the needs of those with dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, “how others respond to the person, and how supportive or enabling the persons surroundings greatly affects how well someone can live with dementia.”

Dementia commonly affects people over the age of 65. Pope Francis has been uncompromising about the need to cherish the elderly in our society. He has stressed the need to care for and respect older people, saying that a society without this commitment has no future.  In 2012, Pope Benedict stated that “the quality of a society, of a civilisation, may also be judged by how it treats its elderly and by the place reserved for them in communal life. To give space to the elderly is to give space to life!”

Dementia can also affect younger people, with over 40,000 in the UK under 65 affected. Regardless of age, Catholic Social Teaching clearly states that we have a duty of care. “Every human person – no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter how young or how old, no matter how healthy, handicapped or sick, no matter how useful or productive for society – is a being of inestimable worth created in the image and likeness of God (Pope John Paul II).”

Building awareness and understanding are the first steps to an effective response. We would like to encourage you to engage in this Dementia Awareness Week, and to reflect on how your parish community can reach out to families and individuals facing the challenges of living with dementia. In your family and beyond, for those with dementia and for those who are engaged in their care, your support is precious.

Read more about CSAN’s focus on positive ageing and care.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

See me rather than my dementia

  

Ben Bano is Director of a Community Interest Company – ‘Welcome Me as I Am’ – which is a member agency of CSAN and provides training and support for staff and volunteers in person centred approaches to dementia care 

CSAN’s campaign in Dementia Awareness week is right to focus on the importance of working conditions and training for those working with people whose lives are touched by dementia. It’s only through providing the best possible care and support that we can focus on two of the most important aspects to caring for the ‘whole person’ – promoting personhood and dignity.

The term ‘personhood’ has been developed to counter the stereotype of the person with dementia gradually losing their physical and mental functioning and their personality as dementia advances. The concept of personhood reinforces the image of the person with dementia as someone who is able to experience emotions, both positive and negative, as well as the ability to share these emotions to those who are able and willing to be present in what might be a bewildering and confusing situation. It is at the root of all the work with people whose lives are touched by dementia and is a core value for my own organisation – ‘Welcome Me as I Am’ – as well as for CSAN’s member agencies working in the field of dementia care.

The promotion of dignity and empowerment has a natural place in dementia care as well as a special place for CSAN’s member agencies whose work is underpinned by Catholic Social Teaching. This is because dignity and empowerment are linked inextricably linked with our view of a person with dementia as a person who can and should lead a full life in spite of their diminishments.

 The well known author and columnist Daniel O’Leary speaks movingly of the ‘power of presence’ in promoting dignity as dementia advances:

“The role of your body in revealing presence is central; the graciousness of your eyes – windows out and windows in; the touch of your hands – extensions of your heart; your body – the dignity of composure; your body betrays the inner state of your soul; the dignity of your voice, a radiance from your physical presence, a reverence for the Presence of the other.  Then you release a healing Presence in the other.”

For those close to a person in the advancing stages of dementia, diminishments need to be put in the context of a person whose life story needs to be seen in the context of lifetime of achievement and fulfilment. As a person with dementia loses their sense of reality, visual and other memories are needed to remind them – and even more importantly, their loved ones, of the person that they have been and will continue to be. The promotion of spiritual needs, which is a focus for the CSAN member agencies working with dementia, becomes particularly important.

This is the challenge before us and it is why we need to support, train and nurture those involved in providing care and support in person centred care.  This work is an act of compassion, sensitivity and humanity.

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Support and care in Leeds

  

By Sharon Forbes, Service Manager for Adults with a Learning Disability & Older People at Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds)

All the groups and activities we run at Catholic Care Leeds are inclusive of all denominations and welcome people who live with dementia. People whose lives are touched by dementia attend the Harrogate luncheon club (with support from a family member and carer), two ladies attend the exercise class in Normanton with their husbands who then leave to do other things – one gentleman said he goes home to catch up on the housework and in his words,  “enjoy a cup of coffee on my own”. This respite time for carers is incredibly important.

We are aware that people with dementia can have difficulty with: remembering what they are doing, finding the right word for something, recollecting names and faces, understanding instructions, getting around in new and confusing environments.

With these things in mind, we welcome people when they arrive and wear badges that remind people who we are and will make it easy for people to know who can help them. Everyone is greeted warmly and with a smile, ensuring we make eye contact; we use a friendly tone of voice, speaking clearly and slowly so allowing people time to understand what is being said. We listen carefully to what people say and give plenty of encouragement, we have the room set out in a welcoming way, make it easy to get around and where possible we try to keep things the same because we are aware that change can be confusing. We also have somewhere people can sit that is quieter if they need a break, we support people in a non intrusive way, encouraging ability whilst it is still present, but ensuring that any support given is not overtly obvious.

We have experienced great acceptance from other groups members who have become, for want of a better word, quite ‘protective’ of the person.

All our activities are supported by the Domiciliary Care Team who are on hand to support either the person living with dementia or their carers. We also work closely with professional agencies who can offer additional advise and support where necessary.

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.