Caring comes full circle: specialist dementia nursing home reunites carer and former teacher

Pamela McCane-Whitney, 87, a family member at Wren Hall, taught at Waverley House PNEU School in Nottingham, where owner and manager of the home, Anita Astle MBE, once attended with her siblings.

Born in Walthamstow, London, Pam, as she’s affectionately known, qualified as a teacher from Whiteland College Putney in 1956. Talking of her career, she said: “I loved teaching primary school children and making costumes for their plays. My favourite part of the job was the children, I loved them and they loved me.”

Despite working in education for the majority of her life, Pam always dreamed of becoming a doctor but thought the course to study medicine was too long. Outside of her career, she was presented with an MBE by the late Queen for her efforts towards fund-raising for cancer research.

Anita recalled her former teacher driving her and her siblings to school, which has since closed, in a ‘huge Volvo estate car’ alongside her three children, who she shared with her husband, Dr John Anthony McCane-Whitney.

Now, in the spirit of giving back, Anita extends the same care and kindness she received in her youth to Pam.

Speaking of their reunion, Anita said: “It was a few days after Mrs McCane-Whitney's admission that I managed to have a proper catch up with her, but by then she had told all the staff that she had been a teacher at my school and that I used to be naughty!

“Meeting her again transported me straight back to being an 11-year-old at school, so I can't call her Pam, it just doesn’t feel right. Now I support her with medication and personal care needs, supporting her the way she supported me all those years ago. I think there’s something really special in being able to give back like that, and we’re delighted to have Mrs McCane-Whitney be a part of our community here at Wren Hall.”

Rated ‘outstanding’ by CQC, Wren Hall strives to provide a homely and friendly environment to help those living with dementia to achieve optimum independence. Part of this includes referring to those who reside at the home as ‘family members’ rather than residents.

For more information on Wren Hall, please visit https://wrenhall.com/.