AgeCare Care Homes is founded on the belief that all residents are entitled to a rich quality of life, with the opportunity to live as independently as possible. No two residents are the same and we pride ourselves on our individual approach, maximising independence in a safe and secure environment. This includes providing the highest level of dementia care for those residents with cognitive decline.
Dementia is a progressive syndrome with a range of cognitive and behavioural symptoms including memory loss, problems with reasoning and communication, change in personality, and reduction in a person’s ability to carry out daily activities.
Our first step in ensuring our homes are dementia friendly is providing on-going, up to date training in all areas of dementia care for all our care home teams. This ensures everyone is knowledgeable and confident in their approach and care delivery. We work to tailor our communication strategies and nutrition to meet exacting needs to make daily life easier and less stressful.
We care for residents living with dementia as individuals and support them with personalised care, tailored to their individual needs but we also provide an environment that makes it easier for dementia residents to feel more confident. Due to the memory issues and difficulties recognising and interpreting their environment, our spaces are adapted to provide maximum support.
Here are some general practices we adhere to:
- Good lighting and as much natural light as possible, keeping windows free from furniture and lighting darker areas of our rooms.
- Using bright and contrasting colours for furniture and furnishings
- Keeping room layouts the same to ensure familiar surroundings
- Ensuring floors are even, with plain carpeting and free of any obstacles
- Ensuring everyday items in residents’ rooms are kept in the same place and easy to access
- Ensuring bathroom switches, taps, handles and are clearly marked and easy to use
- Addling labels where necessary in bedrooms
- Providing quiet spaces with minimal distractions
We have created specially designed dementia communities in our homes decorated with sensory equipment on the walls and sensory items for residents to touch, feel and interact with.
Our residents are encouraged to get involved in regular movement and interaction through a range of activities. This includes gentle exercise to calming music and soft foam equipment to help sensory awareness. Carefully selected entertainment provided by local musicians and performers covers a range of music, dance and culture and group activities and games such as bingo, roulette provide social interaction and entertainment. Doll therapy, which we’ve found to be very effective in helping those with dementia become more focused, raises their spirits and enhances communication with others.
We also have carefully located ‘Life Stations’ within the homes to encourage residents to engage and reminisce with others, this provides cognitive stimulation and social interaction.
Dementia care at AgeCare offers 24-hour support from fully trained team members and the knowledge that your loved one is in a safe place with social interaction, stimulation and activities. And just as importantly, we recognise the intrinsic importance of treating everyone as an individual with the respect and understanding they deserve.
For more information on dementia visit: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/types-dementia
