“I never thought I would go into aged care. And now that I’m in, I don’t want to get out.” Damla Keskin is nurturing IG at WelThuis Magnolia and works with elderly people with dementia. She would like to dispel prejudices about her work.
As a young person, Damla said with conviction: I will never go into elderly care. “I mainly thought about washing my buttocks and I was not waiting for that. Contact with people attracted me. That’s why I started the care and welfare course after high school. I did an internship at a daycare and a primary school. Until my neighbor came up with an idea.”
Get rid of the prejudice
Her girl next door asked: Shall we do an education? Damla: “I was looking forward to a new challenge. My neighbor suggested the nursing IG training with elderly care in mind. Now that I was a bit older, I did delve into what that entailed. In practice, it turned out that washing the buttocks was the smallest part of the job.”
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Challenges and beautiful moments
During her third grade, Damla joined as a trainee nurse Safe trip home justifiably. She did an internship for a year and was immediately offered a one-year contract. She now works with a permanent contract at the Zoetermeer residential location Magnolia. “Older people with dementia live here. That offers challenges and also beautiful moments.”
Their stories cheer me up
“You build a special bond,” she explains. “As a result, residents who have advanced dementia can tell beautiful stories at clear moments. I look forward to that myself. Even when residents are no longer alive, we often still tell their stories. I still miss some residents.”
A buddy
In her daily work, Damla helps the residents with all kinds of care tasks. She ensures that they are washed and dressed for breakfast, eats and drinks coffee with them and also distributes medication. In between, the reports about the residents come.
“But you do more than the ADL, the general activities of daily living to give people their daily care. I see myself more as a buddy for the residents. I can support them in everything and offer them a listening ear. That gives me great pleasure in my work.”
“You know that the residents are in the last phase of their lives. That doesn’t stop me from building a relationship with them. They need attention just as much as anyone else. If you can make them happy, you will also go home happy. Although I often stick around for a long time,” she says with a laugh. “I also feel at home here.”
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That home feeling
The work can be quite tough. “That’s the first thing people think of when I tell them I work as a nurturing IG. They say they respect me for what I do for our residents. Getting people to laugh and having contact with them is my main task. This is their home and you make it feel that way for them too. The rest, such as the care, is only a small part of it.”
The motto of WelThuis is ‘you matter’. “In my experience, this does not only apply to the residents. The organization helps the employees as much as they can. If you want to grow, you get that chance. For example, I specialized in psychogeriatrics, the mental capacities of older people. My employer paid for the training and I was allowed to do half of the study during working hours. Very nice that this is possible.”
Understand better
“Because of my extra training I have more insight into the misunderstood behavior of people with dementia. Some can’t express themselves well, so they sit quietly in a corner or take it out. I can better imagine how frustrating it is when you are not understood. Because of what I have learned, I can not only help my colleagues, but also the families of the residents.”
Damla admits that the work can be tough at times. “Fortunately, I can always contact the organization. I feel comfortable as an employee. I myself am a carer for my father and sometimes everything I go through gets too much for me. I can turn to a counselor for both private and work matters. It gives me peace. I am grateful that my work helps me in my career and at home.”
Have you been inspired by Damla’s story to also enter elderly care? WelThuis has several job vacancies for carers IG in Zoetermeer and surroundings.