Great-great-grandmother, 100, checks out of her care home to be with her family and her first request is to go to the PUB
- Doreen Tilly, 100, left Woodside Court Care Home in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland
- She asked her great-granddaughter if they could head straight to the local pub
- Former landlady was becoming withdrawn at the lack of contact with her family
- Fife Council helped secure a funded care package for great-great-grandmother
A 100-year-old great-great-grandmother checked out of her care home to be with her family – and asked if she could go straight to the pub.
Doreen Tilly left Woodside Court Care Home in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland, after deciding she no longer wanted to be separated from her loved ones.
The former landlady’s first request after being welcomed home by her great-granddaughter, Sonia Dixon, 37, was to head out for a drink.
However, she will have to wait until after lockdown.
Sonia said: ‘She asked if we’re going to go to the Otters Head, which is the local pub, so she’s starting to settle in.’
Doreen Tilly, 100, pictured being wheeled out of Woodside Court Care Home in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland, by her great-granddaughter Sonia Dixon, 37
The former landlady pictured above with Sonia. There were fears Doreen could contract Covid-19 at Woodside Court while her family were struggling to organise a home care package
In her younger years Doreen, who has lived through a wave of the Spanish flu pandemic, travelled the country running various pubs.
She now has eight grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren – three of whom she has yet to meet – and another one on the way.
There were fears Doreen could contract Covid-19 at Woodside Court while her family were struggling to organise a home care package.
Meanwhile, she was becoming withdrawn at the lack of contact with her family.
Sonia said: ‘We don’t know how long she’s got. We didn’t want her to live the last part of her life alone, isolated from family.
‘So we did what we had to do to make sure my nan had her family back. She was literally begging us. We would go for a visit and she would say “please just get me out of here”.
‘She was so miserable, she’d stopped eating and drinking. At one point she said she would rather take her chances and die than live isolated for the rest of her life.’
Sonia described organising a care package for Doreen to allow her to return home as a ‘nightmare’.
Doreen is pictured smiling as she is greeted by Sonia as she leaves her care home to live with her. She has eight grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren
Sonia hugging her great-grandmother. The 37-year-old said: ‘We don’t know how long she’s got. We didn’t want her to live the last part of her life alone, isolated from family’
She added: ‘It’s taken us about seven months. We were trying to get carers sourced through the normal channels.
‘That wasn’t working. We were waiting and waiting so we ended up taking another option. I had to put an advert out for experienced carers, and build my own team.’
Sonia said Fife Council’s social work department and Self Directed Support Options (Fife) had helped the family secure a funded care package for Doreen.
‘They’ve been amazing. They’ve guided us through the whole thing,’ she said.