{"id":15177,"date":"2022-07-01T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=15177"},"modified":"2022-07-01T13:48:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T12:48:43","slug":"walfinch-franchisee-ian-thompson-warns-against-assuming-that-post-covid-memory-problems-are-the-onset-of-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/walfinch-franchisee-ian-thompson-warns-against-assuming-that-post-covid-memory-problems-are-the-onset-of-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Walfinch Franchisee Ian Thompson Warns Against Assuming that Post-Covid Memory Problems are the Onset of Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Carefully tailored care from a Walfinch home care franchisee and his team has helped a former surgeon recover from dementia-like symptoms brought on by Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Now franchisee Ian Thompson is highlighting the role franchised care services can play in tackling the longer-term effects of Covid and warning that they should not be mistaken for dementia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Covid-19 left this gentleman with mobility issues and memory problems that could have been interpreted as dementia, we were asked to provide visiting and overnight care for him,\u201d says Ian Thompson, managing director of the Walfinch home care franchise in Welwyn and Bishops Stortford.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in his 80s and had previously played golf, but after recovering from Covid he needed help with memory issues and to negotiate the steps and uneven floors in his house,\u201d says Ian.<\/p>\n

Given their client\u2019s symptoms, Ian and his care team member Tabitha Bechian based their approach on the dementia care training that all Walfinch carers receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat included spending lots of time interacting with him \u2013 Tabitha enjoyed it because he had lots of interesting stories about his career, children and his own schooldays,\u201d says Ian. \u201cGradually, over six months of dedicated interaction and help with physiotherapy his short-term memory improved, as did his mobility. He\u2019s now back on the golf course and working on his handicap.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important that post-Covid symptoms are not mistaken for the onset of dementia, says Ian.<\/p>\n

\u201cProblems with memory and concentration are recognised by the NHS as post-Covid symptoms,\u201d says Ian. \u201cIn older people in particular, there is a risk that these are assumed to be the onset of dementia and seen as something that is impossible to reverse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur experience shows that this is not always the case \u2013 post-Covid memory issues can get better and may be helped by increased interaction, which makes the brain more active. We want to get this message out to the wider community so more people are encouraged to invest the time interacting with loved ones to help them recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s happy endings like these that help enrich my life as a Walfinch franchisee,\u201d says Ian.<\/p>\n

Walfinch is looking for new franchisees who prioritise care quality while wanting to build a business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carefully tailored care from a Walfinch home care franchisee and his team has helped a former surgeon recover from dementia-like symptoms brought on by Covid-19. Now franchisee Ian Thompson is highlighting the role franchised care services can play in tackling the longer-term effects of Covid and warning that they should not be mistaken for dementia. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":15178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1464,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-walfinch","category-care-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Ian-Thompson-Headshot-2-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}