About Us
The Mede offers day and night care facilities for families living with Dementia to benefit both the carer and cared for. Our vision is to see lives enhanced through providing professional and tailored services.
Taking a break from caring is sometimes a hard decision to make. I hope by visiting this website you are made aware of how we could help and please do contact me for more information. I would be very happy to chat to you and if it's not this year, it may be the next!
Sallie's Story
Having a family member with Dementia and seeing how it affected our lives led me to set up The Mede in 2009. My father-in-law John was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease 1997 and died in 2010. My parents-in-law lived in Gloucestershire and as it was a two hour drive away, I never felt I did enough to help with the day to day caring of him.
My mother-in-law Sheila was worn out but always said she could cope on her own. She had started to ignore her own health and became physically and mentally exhausted. They stopped seeing many of their friends and things that they had looked forward to doing together were difficult and no longer possible. Sheila often woke up in the morning worrying about what sort of day they were going to have. Every morning was the same with the same daily routine of washing, dressing, cooking meals and providing 24 hour care for John. There appeared to be little support in place which would work for them.
I always wonder if Sheila had had a few days off or nights away, either together with John or apart, whether it might have given her more energy and strength to cope for longer. Holidays we attempted were stressful as we tried to return to places we thought John would remember – he didn’t and it was sad for us all. Before he went into a nursing home I had looked for places for us to stay, with services and provisions like ‘The Mede’ offers, but as I found nothing I decided to set one up myself. What an interesting journey it has been so far and I'm so thankful for the wonderful people I've met along the way. I continue to understand the concerns many families have as Sheila sadly also has Alzheimers now.
Meet the Team
Meet our lovely team of dedicated professionals and volunteers who help with the running of our Activity Days at Seaward House.
