Alzheimer’s Centre was my husband’s ‘happy place’ – he’s gutted that it is closed
PETER PLESKACH was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at 56. The lockdowns brought mental anguish when a centre he calls ‘my happy place’ had to close.
His wife Frances said: ‘He was devastated when it closed. He misses his friends. It was very difficult in April and May. He got out over the gates here in the house. He didn’t understand why people couldn’t go out – he got quite agitated about it.’
She said being around other people with cognitive impairments at the Le Cairde Alzheimer’s Centre in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, eased his embarrassment at forgetting words or losing this train of thought.
A former civil engineer, Peter, 62, can no longer remember how to read or write but staff at the centre re-ignited his love of puzzles and his hand-eye coordination improved.
He loved Le Cairde from the first visit, Frances said: ‘He was transformed, he did not want to go home. He had the biggest smile; it was as if he found people who were in his world.’
When this lifeline was cut, Frances watched her husband struggle and lose his progress. Their adult children are brokenhearted, she said.
A carer from the centre started coming to their home in September, six hours a week in an effort to keep Peter connected. This is continuing under Level 5 with precautions.
Frances said: ‘He watches for Sandra on the steps. He has his coat on and is waiting for her. There is light now that Sandra is coming into the house – it’s a bit of normality for Peter but it is not enough.’
Frances stopped asking staff when the centre might re-open, accepting they simply do not know.
‘I love him to bits and I want to take care of him. I am grateful for what we have but he needs more,’ she said.
Seamus Monahan, 82, faces a similar situation in Dublin.
His daughter Denise said: ‘It is by the week he is declining; I feel we are in freefall now. The most heart-breaking of all is he doesn’t know my brothers. I was in a bubble with my parents during the strict lockdown but when we opened up in May, he did not know them. That is very hard for them, it hurts.’
The siblings used to take Seamus to a Dementia Café once a week, travelling from their home in Tallaght to Glasnevin.
Denise said: ‘We used to drive from Tallaght to Glasnevin, it was that good.
‘He had a coffee and chat, there was a great buzz from that.’