Carer of the Year Finalist: Caring Carole behind local Alzheimer's branch
Carole Beattie is the chairperson of the Cavan branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland.
Her husband Jack was diagnosed with dementia in 2005. She cared for him for 10 years. She recalled the time when he first received his diagnosis, when they had just entered their retirement years.
“I was very lost,” she said, explaining that there was very little help at the time and people with dementia were commonly described as “doting".
“There wasn’t very much out there about dementia.”
The Celt's Sean McMahon wrote a piece about Carole and Jack, in which Carole urged others like them to come to the Farnham Arms Hotel to start a support group for people with dementia and their loved ones.
Five “complete strangers” showed up, the group was formed and Carole has been running the group for the past 14 years. Currently, Cavan is pushing to be the first dementia inclusive county in Ireland and Carole has made numerous presentations in that regard to the local authority and the Cavan Business Women's Network among others.
“It’s going great,” she said, explaining that Cavan County Council and local businesses have got on board to start training to make businesses more dementia inclusive for their customers.
“My passion now is to care for the people of Cavan with dementia.”
Carole is also involved in the Forget Me Not Cafe in Castle Manor, which is a music cafe for people with dementia. Five nursing homes bring their patients to meet their loved ones there.
“Some people haven’t spoken for months and they suddenly start mouthing the words or tapping their feet and just smile,” Carole said.
“There’s so much happening and that's thanks to my husband really," she said, explaining that she got involved with different support groups after he was diagnosed.
“I just care passionately about it [dementia].”
She said making it to the finals of the awards “came out of the blue".
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“I did see the advertisements looking for applications, but I never thought I’d be one of them really,” she said.