Pictures: Residents in Fermoy home enjoy multicultural show of music and dance

The residents of Amberley Home in Fermoy were recently treated to a multicultural show of music and dance celebrating the culture of those who work there.

The entertainment was provided as part of Nursing Homes Ireland Week, and it included displays of music and dance from Brazil, India, and Ireland.

Vishnu C Nadh, who is clinical nurse manager at the home, told The Echo the week’s festivities had been a celebration of ethnicity and culture.

“Here in Amberley Home we are blessed with excellent staff from many different backgrounds, and our residents absolutely loved seeing them performing for them,” he said.

“We had Indian staff members dressed in traditional attires like saree and mundu, which was a totally different experience for residents and for the other staff members.”

Mr Nadh said that staff members Michele, Fabiani, and Eliane had performed a Brazilian dance number called Rural, and Nurse Neenu sang some soothing Malayalam songs, and Matron Neethu Thomas joined in and sang too.

Breda Patterson, who is a resident from Glanmire, and originally from Ballyporeen, said she had been a resident in Amberley for about six years now, and she said she had loved the week’s entertainment.

“It’s been just a marvelous week, we had Indian dancers, and then we had a girl who works here and she sang two songs and I’ve never heard anything like it, she was just brilliant,” she said.

“We also had Brazilian dancing, which, oddly enough, is a bit like Irish dancing, you could definitely see similarities.”

Ms Patterson said she loved living in Amberley.

“It’s very homely and there’s everything supplied for you, you’re very safe here,” she said.

“The standard of staff is just incredible, they’re just so kind and they treat you with such respect.”

A few doors up from Ms Patteron, Anne Morrison, who is originally from Fermoy town, spoke with The Echo in her cosy room which has an impressive library.

“I spent years complaining I hadn’t enough time to read, so now I’m catching up,” she said.

“I love it here, and I couldn’t praise it enough.” 

Ms Morrison said she had been “flabbergasted” by the week’s entertainment.

“It was amazing, it was wonderful, I’m gobsmacked, if that’s a word still, it was just unbelievable the talents that our carers have,” she said.

“We have a lot of staff from Kerala in southern India, and they’re nurses and carers, and they wore their traditional outfits and they danced for us, and it was unbelievable.”

Sitting outside in the afternoon sun, local woman Mary O’Connor said she had loved the week’s entertainment.

“I had never seen Indian music and dancing done like that before, but then they’re young people and they’re full of energy and enthusiasm, and they loved what they were doing, and we loved it too,” Ms O’Connor said. 

“I’ve lived here about a year or so and I love the place. And even sitting out here, I just love the place, I feel miles better.

“As one of the other residents said to me, ‘Mary, it’s our due now, we raised our families, we looked after our children, we cleaned the houses,’ and she said ‘Don’t feel guilty now,’ and it’s true for her.

“The Lord have mercy on my husband, and I know I’ll miss him for the rest of my life, but I know he would have wanted me to be happy, just the way our four children have told me they want me to be happy,” she said. “And I am happy here, and I’m looked after.”