Brief update
Dear All,
I am going to a mini case conference on Graham this morning and will report on that to you later on. I know that things are moving along slowly but surely towards his return. Airasa and Ian are away for 10 days so I will be seeing Graham a bit more often. Send any emails or messages through me for the time being.
The main topic of this email is to tell you about something that is being discussed here at the moment. I met someone who is a freelance TV documentary director. When she heard about Graham's fall and subsequent actitivities to recover and now plans to move back to the States, she said she would like to try and get someone to sponsor her making a film of this. It would be about his 'spiritual and physical journey', and would include filming at Pinderfields and then his return to California and settling into a routine there. This is still in the talk stage, so don't get too excited about it yet! But it is a definite maybe!
Graham has given his permission to pursue the idea. Annie (the director) has had a preliminary discussion with a preliminary person. From what I can gather, it would probably end up being about an hour program on either BBC or Channel 4 here (and possibly open for showing in the States, of course). It would include interviews of various people involved in Graham's recovery and also film footage of his being here in Pinderfields, the trip to the States, and his settling into California with his friends and family there. I can't tell you any more than that as it is in the Very Early Planning Stages.
However, Annie and I thought it would be a good idea to open the idea out to everyone who has shown an interest in Graham's situation -- that's YOU ALL! She has already exchanged emails with Pastor Steve, who has been here and seen Graham's condition and situaiton.
I would also like to add again that when Graham returns to the States, he will have to have professional help to care for him -- none of you will be able to do the general physical things that need to be done -- like his physical caretaking, dressing, bathing, his hoisting in and out of bed, and all of that stuff. He will probably be best situated in a Care Home of some sort where there is 24 hour help available once he has been in the medical facility for a while.
What you will be able to do for him is visit him. Here we have had mostly Airasa and me and Ian to visit him. When he returns there he has all of you and there are 47 on this mailing list alone and presumably people in the Church Family who are not on email but get updates at Church. With so many of you, a rota could be set up whereby each of you could visit him say once every 2 months and he would never run out of visitors (assuming the Church had another 13 people). Of course some of you don't live in Santa Barbara, but I think you get the gist of what I am saying.
A visit simply entails talking with him, having a cuppa, perhaps a roll outside or into another room to sit and chat. We write post cards (as you know), and read him emails from all of you. If you want to take him out once in a while, that would be great of course. We all really enjoyed the outing to the Sculpture Park. But we had to have a special wheelchair taxi to take us there and back and had to go somewhere that was wheelchair accessible. You have seen the photos so you know a bit of what it was like. If you happen to be around when he is eating you might give him a little help if needed, though once set up he pretty much feeds himself most of his food. He needs to have a glass held for him to drink, of course. But you will see that it is about being his friend and having a social visit for the most part and giving him a drink or whatever as part of the visit.
I know he is really looking forward to being back in California for the weather and especially I think for the food -- not to mention being able to reconnect in person with all of you who have been so kind to write to him and send cards and presents and so forth. But of course he is also apprehensive about leaving what he knows here and going to the unknown there. It will be a big change.
I would just like to send a huge thank you to the crew who are busy emptying out his apartment. We know what a big job that is, and of course you will be re-imbursed for any expenses. Just keep track and let airasa know the costs, please.
OK, I won't go on now, but will let you know what is said at the case conference. I will be mentioning the possible filming at that today as well, so that people can be thinking about whether they would be willing to be in the film. Please give it some thought as well.
If you have any queries about anything, please don't hesitate to ask.
Kind regards to all,
Linda
I am going to a mini case conference on Graham this morning and will report on that to you later on. I know that things are moving along slowly but surely towards his return. Airasa and Ian are away for 10 days so I will be seeing Graham a bit more often. Send any emails or messages through me for the time being.
The main topic of this email is to tell you about something that is being discussed here at the moment. I met someone who is a freelance TV documentary director. When she heard about Graham's fall and subsequent actitivities to recover and now plans to move back to the States, she said she would like to try and get someone to sponsor her making a film of this. It would be about his 'spiritual and physical journey', and would include filming at Pinderfields and then his return to California and settling into a routine there. This is still in the talk stage, so don't get too excited about it yet! But it is a definite maybe!
Graham has given his permission to pursue the idea. Annie (the director) has had a preliminary discussion with a preliminary person. From what I can gather, it would probably end up being about an hour program on either BBC or Channel 4 here (and possibly open for showing in the States, of course). It would include interviews of various people involved in Graham's recovery and also film footage of his being here in Pinderfields, the trip to the States, and his settling into California with his friends and family there. I can't tell you any more than that as it is in the Very Early Planning Stages.
However, Annie and I thought it would be a good idea to open the idea out to everyone who has shown an interest in Graham's situation -- that's YOU ALL! She has already exchanged emails with Pastor Steve, who has been here and seen Graham's condition and situaiton.
I would also like to add again that when Graham returns to the States, he will have to have professional help to care for him -- none of you will be able to do the general physical things that need to be done -- like his physical caretaking, dressing, bathing, his hoisting in and out of bed, and all of that stuff. He will probably be best situated in a Care Home of some sort where there is 24 hour help available once he has been in the medical facility for a while.
What you will be able to do for him is visit him. Here we have had mostly Airasa and me and Ian to visit him. When he returns there he has all of you and there are 47 on this mailing list alone and presumably people in the Church Family who are not on email but get updates at Church. With so many of you, a rota could be set up whereby each of you could visit him say once every 2 months and he would never run out of visitors (assuming the Church had another 13 people). Of course some of you don't live in Santa Barbara, but I think you get the gist of what I am saying.
A visit simply entails talking with him, having a cuppa, perhaps a roll outside or into another room to sit and chat. We write post cards (as you know), and read him emails from all of you. If you want to take him out once in a while, that would be great of course. We all really enjoyed the outing to the Sculpture Park. But we had to have a special wheelchair taxi to take us there and back and had to go somewhere that was wheelchair accessible. You have seen the photos so you know a bit of what it was like. If you happen to be around when he is eating you might give him a little help if needed, though once set up he pretty much feeds himself most of his food. He needs to have a glass held for him to drink, of course. But you will see that it is about being his friend and having a social visit for the most part and giving him a drink or whatever as part of the visit.
I know he is really looking forward to being back in California for the weather and especially I think for the food -- not to mention being able to reconnect in person with all of you who have been so kind to write to him and send cards and presents and so forth. But of course he is also apprehensive about leaving what he knows here and going to the unknown there. It will be a big change.
I would just like to send a huge thank you to the crew who are busy emptying out his apartment. We know what a big job that is, and of course you will be re-imbursed for any expenses. Just keep track and let airasa know the costs, please.
OK, I won't go on now, but will let you know what is said at the case conference. I will be mentioning the possible filming at that today as well, so that people can be thinking about whether they would be willing to be in the film. Please give it some thought as well.
If you have any queries about anything, please don't hesitate to ask.
Kind regards to all,
Linda
posted by Cosmic Sunshine at 1:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home