As a Christian carer I help those with dementia remember God's love

Christian carer Tim Byron shares heartwarming stories of how God is at work among those with dementia, and says churches have a vital role to play in showing love towards its senior members

I started working in a care home a year after we had emerged from the last Covid-19 lockdown. During my first week, a lady from the local parish church came by to give the residents communion. I will always remember Elizabeth’s tears as we took the bread and wine together in her room. She felt that she had been forgotten about; the two and half years of pandemic had been very lonely ones for her. Being reconnected to the Church meant so much. Elizabeth has access to regular communion now and, for her 94th birthday, we took her to the local church to join the service. At the end, as the congregation sang ‘Happy birthday’ to her, I looked up to see the same tears flowing again.