I’d like to introduce you to Alynn. Alynn was working part-time as a HR Manager while also caring for her husband who had onset dementia.
Alynn’s story begins after having heart surgery. She felt tired and she wasn’t managing at work. She started losing mobility and slowly lost her speech. Eventually Alynn lost the use of her left side. In January 2021, Alynn was admitted to the Flinders Medical Centre where she was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND); a medical condition in which there is a problem with the functioning of the nervous system and how the brain and body sends and/or receives signals. As a result of this condition, Alynn lost her memory and she found it difficult to read and process everyday things.
Doctors at the Flinders Medical Centre suggested a physio twice a day, weekly occupational therapist sessions and daily speech therapy. Alynn was transferred to Griffith Rehabilitation Hospital, where she started her rehabilitation. She started feeling better and was transferred into Respite Accommodation where she stayed for 5 weeks, sharing accommodation with an older gentlemen with Intellectual Disability. While there, without having any supports, Alynn’s health deteriorated. She became extremely depressed due to the environment she was living in and thought her life was over. Alynn was suffering a migraine for 3 days before having a visit from her daughter, who was informed no-one had checked on Alynn at all. Alynn was immediately transferred to the Adelaide Clinic where she started feeling better. She was then transferred to an apartment at Glenelg but again, there were no on-site supports, Alynn was forgetting to eat and even tried cooking a meal but burnt both her hands moving a hot pot from the stove.
As a result of the unsafe environment, Alynn was then moved to the Adelaide Clinic before moving into her new home at Bowden. Working with Summer Foundation and Enliven Housing, Alynn found an apartment to call her forever home.
Alynn told her onsite support staff from Nextt that she had not had a haircut in almost 18 months due to being hospitalised. She was cutting her own fringe during this time as she has always been known to have a fringe. Prior to her diagnosis, Alynn was getting regular 6 weekly cuts and colours.
Nextt’s Service Leader Litza asked Alynn if she would like to make an appointment with a hairdresser to have her fringe cut. Alynn agreed. On the day, Alynn stated that her family had been texting her all morning wishing her well and Alynn herself was super excited.
Alynn took before and after photos of her first haircut in 18 months and recently said, with a beaming smile: “I still think I look hot every day”.