Contrasting perspectives of the Nightingale Hammerson experience were highlighted at the care charity’s dinner at London’s Guildhall on Monday, which raised a record £1.45 million.
The appeal video featured Nightingale resident Bobbie Silver and Tony Levy, whose wife Angela is cared for at the Clapham home.
Mrs Silver is 98, could comfortably pass for 20 years younger, possesses a ready wit and has firm opinions on a host of subjects that she is happy to share. Interviewed in the video, she said she had been “impressed with all the facilities and the general atmosphere.
“Every day there are different activities which I enjoy. The thing I enjoy most is playing bridge — and chatting to people.” It was “very important to have someone to talk to. There are so many interesting people here.”
In a sometimes tearful account, Mr Levy explained that Angela came to Nightingale two years ago. “Her journey started something like five years ago, when her disability was becoming more marked and she was having trouble walking. [Her] speech was difficult, [her] thought process was becoming noticeably difficult. It was clear that the condition Angela had was untreatable but she needed care.”
They have been married for 58 years and Mr Levy described her as supportive, loving and a wonderful mother. “I still regard her as beautiful — the love of my life and that’s the way it will stay.”
Nightingale was now “the centre of our lives and very, very important to us. We are with each other all the time but we have friends here."
And the care received “extends to myself to make sure I’m fit enough and well enough and not so stressed out that I’m unable to support Angela in the way I would like. Nightingale has allowed us to have a life together which we wouldn’t otherwise have.”
Mrs Silver told the JC afterwards that she had worked at New Scotland Yard, “which sounds terribly exciting but I was in the pensions department”. She had lived an independent life into old age but “began to feel terribly lonely” after the death of her husband. “I do like company.”
Coming to Nightingale had given her a new lease of life. “I’ve become friendly with everyone and I do feel much better in my health. I really haven’t watched television because there is so much to do.
“I’ve never been an artistic person but I do pottery. It’s like being at school and playing with plasticine.”
She had found her involvement in the appeal video fascinating — “it was interesting seeing what the crew do”. The great-grandmother was also thrilled when guest speaker Howard Jacobson came over to say hello, even if she later confided: “I have tried to read his books but they are too sexy.”
Charity president Harvey Rosenblatt told the 480 guests that Nightingale was “a niche player soon to be operating two very large care homes [Hammerson House in North London is undergoing a £40 million redevelopment]”. Its task was to care for residents and create purpose in their lives.
However, the charity was “not immune to the existential threat posed by the current funding system.
“Every local authority resident in our care needs subsidising to the tune of approximately £650 per week, added to which we need to fund the substantial costs associated to those with intense staffing needs.
“Dementia as it progresses is a brutal and unforgiving condition. Our residents must be afforded the appropriate care.”
Nightingale Hammerson chair Melvin Lawson noted the Care Quality Commission’s “outstanding” rating of Nightingale, placing it in the top one per cent of care homes in the country.
He also announced the launch of its Care Home Education Centre, “which has just received accreditation as a City and Guilds-approved centre, licensed to deliver qualifications in 11 health and social care subjects.
“We believe this will help us raise our standards still higher — and through offering career progression, will help us retain our very best staff.”
For the past three years, the charity had channelled its knowledge and expertise into the Hammerson House rebuild, “thinking how our design will deliver a flagship caring environment.
“Between our two homes, we will have the capacity to offer 30 per cent of the care beds needed for the London Jewish community.”
Howard Jacobson joked that he had misheard Nightingale’s invitation. Rather than being asked to “speak with us”, he thought he was being requested to “sleep with us”, becoming a resident at the home.
“My son was over the moon [saying]: ‘That’s a relief.’”
The novelist added that he found the old “infinitely more interesting than the young”.
