Care for the elderly is frequently a hot topic in the news, but unfortunately, for the wrong reasons. There are many stories of retirement residences and care homes embroiled in negligence and abuse scandals.
Generally, nursing homes have a bad reputation, so they have to continually devise new ways to keep their residents comfortable, relaxed, and happy.
Recently, the aged care industry has come up with much new care and dementia-friendly designs and models to revolutionize their approach and make a difference.
Many good nursing homes work diligently to enhance the care they provide to the most vulnerable, and use strategies such as music therapy, pet therapy, and memory care facility designs.
Lots of people in nursing homes have dementia, poor memory, and inability to perform everyday functions efficiently. They’re sensitive to certain sights, sounds, and environmental conditions, so their care providers are trained to treat them cautiously and gently.
They take care of their meals, sleep, and bathing, and help them in performing their daily activities.
The Old Vicarage Nursing Home in the UK works on with the Butterfly Model of Care, a system focused on empathy and the emotions of the patients is their main goal. They’ve got a simple way to help the elderly to sleep easier and, therefore, the staff is required to dress in warm clothes to avoid terrifying, provoking, or upsetting them.
Their initiative came from staff attending training by David Sheard’s Dementia Care Matters model of care.
Kamal Siddiqi, the owner of the care home to Hello Care said he gave the staff 30 pounds to purchase a variety of casual clothing, while the night staff wears dressing gowns and pajamas.
The patients do not have to be persuaded to fall asleep when they see the staff is doing the same, and this pajama strategy reminds the elderly to get in their warm, comfy sleepwear.
Visually, uniforms represent a separation between the staff in care homes and residents. It goes against the themes of togetherness and unity that those homes strive to achieve.
That psychological therapy also uses visual cues to help patients perform their activities more easily, such as a cardboard statue of a man brushing his teeth in the morning, a wallpaper of a lady at the sink washing her hands after using the bathroom, and a short clip of people getting into soft, comfortable beds when movie night is nearly over.
Kamal said the no-uniform policy helps the employees to relate better with patients, as it de-institutionalizes the environment in which the residents live.
Everybody liked the idea, and Kamal added that while the staff enjoys trying new ways to keep the residents feel safe and happy, and the elderly feel like home, instead of a care home.
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