She wakes up before the sun comes up. She cooks for her family and finishes up her housework. She gets dressed and leaves her home. She enters the A1 Snehanjali centre at 7 AM sharp and offers her care to several patients suffering from dementia until 7 PM. She goes back home to making dinner and doing chores. She sleeps. She wakes up again before the sun comes up.
Johna Tai, a 50-year-old woman, has lived this life every single day for the last seven years. Her work as a caregiver to person with Dementia is a full-time job, following the same routine almost every day. However, unlike the presumption of a general audience,Johna Tai does not find this monotonous. In fact, she finds a deep satisfaction and happiness in helping the patients who have become her family. Her work is not a duty or a job for her, rather, it’s like being there to take care of her grandparents when they need her. She finds an affinity and familiarity to the patients, a feeling of apnapan she didn’t find at her previous job.
Prior to working at A1 Snehanjali, Johna Tai worked as a nurse at a hospital. She found that job to be almost mechanical - patients come and go, constantly follow rational instructions, stare at the same white walls that don’t give a homely feeling to those who are encapsulated by them. Moreover, being a working mother, she didn’t find the night shifts at the hospital suitable for her. This is when she decided to work full-time at A1 Snehanjali, where a 12-hour shift gives her enough time for her family as well. But, more importantly, it’s a place where her job is not a chore, in fact she feels that it helps her get away from the tensions and stresses of her life.
Her work as a caregiver includes several different tasks. For example, making chai and breakfast for the patients, helping them use the washroom, changing their diapers throughout the day, helping them bathe and clean, and making sure they take their medicines on time. Having done this job for seven years now, Johna Tai believes that if all families are aware of the symptoms and signs of Dementia disease, and are attentive towards their parents and grandparents, then the disease can be detected early. This can allow the doctor and caregiver to give better support to the patients at an early stage itself.
With consistent enthusiasm,Johna Tai continues to do this caregiving work. She has even gotten her children involved, who come and visit the centre sometimes in the evenings after they come back from school. Her children also love to celebrate their birthdays at the centre with all the patients, who they consider nothing less than their own grandparents. As Johna Tai continues to serve person with Dementia, she also stands as a source of motivation, not only for her children, but also for all of us.
Written by Vansh Tibrewal
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