Dementia Care
Our Approach to Care
Our philosophy for dementia care falls within the same framework as all our care services, we want to give the people who use our services the maximum amount of choice and autonomy in all aspects of their lives. However this disease affects a person, our staff work hard to enable that person to maximise their remaining skills, abilities and interests.
Another key principle of our approach is that our care is not about simply 'coping' with the symptoms, but recognising that with the right environment and standard of care these symptoms can be alleviated and therefore the person’s quality of life can be changed for the better.
We know from experience that much of the challenging behaviour associated with dementia is an attempt to communicate or a result of frustration from an inability to communicate. The best care therefore is about developing strategies that allow that individual to put across their wants and needs most effectively and responding to them. Further to this point we do not use medication as a way of dealing with dementia, only to help any physical condition that may be present.
Our approach to providing dementia care focuses on:
- Feelings and emotions of people with dementia and their carers.
- Ensuring the emphasis on maintenance of strengths, abilities and qualities which people with dementia retain throughout the course of the disease.
- Helping people to hold onto a sense of themselves and their past
- Recognising all behaviour as communication and developing greater understanding of meaningful communication skills, activities and response to individual needs.
- Understanding the nature of dementia and the impact on the individual.
- Recognising signs of 'ill-being' and 'well-being' in people with dementia and their carers and providing appropriate responses.
- Providing a secure and enabling environment.
All aspects of our delivery of care starts with the assumption that older people with dementia are able to exercise choice and autonomy in their lives. Every aspect of our delivery of care is geared towards promoting independence, whilst maintaining our duty of care to the individual.
Equally as important is how we support our staff. We select people who are caring by nature and train to a high level of competency. Everything about the organisation is designed to support staff in delivering our care principles.
Living Space Design
As well as the way that care is delivered, more practical considerations are taken into account as regards the actual physical design of the accommodation. These are all designed to:
- Compensate for disability
- Maximise independence
- Enhance self-confidence
- Reinforce personal identity
- Support staff in the delivery of care
Examples of how these design principles can be applied are:
Use of Colour and Light e.g. Doors are colour coded according to their use, Bedroom doors are red, Bathroom doors are yellow. This helps to provide a more recognisable, easy to negotiate environment.
Activities
A lot of time and effort is directed towards communication. People with this condition often find it difficult to communicate in the ways that most of us take for granted. Many activities are geared towards helping sensory communication, to improve interaction, others to aid recall, these are all steps towards providing quality of life for the people who stay with us.
In line with the principles of providing choice, activities are available but not imposed.
Activities may include:
- Dance and Drama
- Life Story Work
- Drawing and Painting
- Puppetry and Theatre
- Cookery Sessions
- Hair and Beauty
- Reminiscence Therapy
- Horticultural Therapy
- Paper Craft
- Clay Modelling
- Exercise to Music
- Aromatherapy and Massage
Click here to find a location that provides Dementia Care.