Every month Roger, a 93-year-old man with dementia, receives a special visitor at his nursing home.
Her name is Emma, and she happens to be a sex worker.
Their relationship is no secret to the staff or Roger’s children. In fact, they helped introduce them.
‘They roll out the red carpet for me, because they know the profound nature of this service and what it really means for this client,’ Emma told Morning Bulletin.
An sex worker named Emma has revealed that she visits Roger, a 93-year-old man with dementia, to provide him with intimacy and friendship (file photo)
Emma said she has become ‘very close’ to Roger over the past year, learning not only about his most intimate desires but also about his past.
‘We look at pictures – not sex pictures – of things he used to be interested in and we’ll have a tipple of his favourite drink,’ she told the Morning Bulletin.
But most of Emma and Roger’s communication is done through mutual touch.
‘It’s about friendship, social interaction, emotional outlets – but most importantly, it’s about sex,’ she said.
‘I look at his beautiful blue sparkly eyes and they pretty much tell me everything that he wants me to do.’
Emma said she has become ‘very close’ to Roger over the past year, learning not only about his most intimate desires but also about his past life (file photo)
Emma has been in the sex industry for more than 30 years and seen a number of patients who have disabilities.
And now in Australia there is an entire charity dedicated to linking sex workers to people with dementia.
Dementia has been known to affect sexual desire in patients, causing some to lose their sex drives while others may experience a major spike.
The latter may no longer understand ‘what to do with sexual desire or when or where to appropriately exercise the desire,’ according to Alzheimer’s Australia.
It can be especially difficult if that person has a partner, who may find that they have ‘unreasonable and exhausting demands’ when it comes to sex.
Roger’s children and nursing home both know about Emma and support her visits with Roger at the home (file photo)
That’s where Touching Base, an unfunded Australian volunteer-based group that helps people with disabilities safely connect with sex workers, comes in.
It is often a child or partner of the patient who makes contact with Touching Base.
President Saul Isbister said these carers must fill out lengthy special referral forms detailing the patient’s sexual needs.
The charity and its sex workers also make sure that the patient’s consent is validated both before and during the appointment, Isbister told the Morning Bulletin.
Touching Base has been working to help society recognise that people with disabilities still have sexual needs.
They continue to provide a referral list of disability-friendly sex workers and accessible brothers in Australia.