Teviot Valley Rest Home business and facility manager Marian Hamilton stepped into her latest role earlier this year, following restructuring of the business.
She was rest-home’s inaugural manager from 2004 before retiring in 2019. After that she became the manager at the next-door Roxburgh Medical Centre for eight months before retiring from there in 2021, when Health Central took over the practice.
To mark her recent retirement from Teviot Valley Rest Home, Ms Hamilton buried a time capsule in the rest-home’s garden with the help of its chairman Norman Dalley.
The time capsule contained profiles, paintings, photos and messages from residents and staff, as well as items used in the day-to-day running of the facility, including a Covid rapid antigen test and a mask and newspapers and newletters.
Ms Hamilton said ideally the capsule would be opened in about 50 years.
"I hope the rest-home is still going strong and providing good support for the elderly of the valley in 50 years,'' she said.
As technology developed in the next 50 years, elderly residential care woud be carried out in significantly different ways. However, both she and Mr Dalley did not think technology would ever completely replace human careworkers as they provided more than machines, like warm interactions when a resident was anxious or ill.
The rest-home hosted an afternoon tea for her with residents, family members, directors, staff and Roxburgh Medical Centre staff attending, along with the new facility manager Dinah Wales.
— APL
