"Step into their world" - advice for dementia carers

Dementia Awareness Week, 18 – 24 May 2014

As the country marks for Dementia Awareness Week (18-24 May 2014), carers at a Buckinghamshire home that cares for people with dementia are offering advice that could change the way many families and the wider community communicate with those suffering from the condition.

“It is very hard to see someone you love struggling with the confusion and loss of memories that comes with dementia.  For most people, the instinctive reaction is to try to draw them back to reality, correcting them if they ask about people from their past as though they are still around, but often this causes the person to become more confused and upset,” explains Marie Shouler, manager of Woodlands Park, a specialist care home for those with dementia based in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire.  “We encourage families to try and recognise the time and place that their loved ones believe themselves to be, and to join them there – stepping into their world rather than trying to get them to join ours.”

This counter-intuitive approach can transform the way families can spend time with their loved ones, helping to keep the sufferer calm and working with the memories that are still intact to make them feel less isolated and confused. 

“The way that memories are eaten away by dementia is distressing for those who remember what the sufferer used to be like, but by talking to the person and finding out where they are in their minds, you can actually help them to discuss and remember different parts of their life, which is an important part of slowing down the rate of decline,” says Marie.  “With practice and a lot of patience, you can sometimes even move them forward through their memories so that they recall more recent events, which once again stimulates different parts of the brain and also enables you to make new connections with them.”

Similarly, if sufferers often feel distressed about something they have misplaced or people they have lost, simple reassurance that there is nothing to worry about, rather than a ‘reality check’ can often set their minds at rest and help calm them down.  It is so important to understand the person’s personal history and old routines because it can help you understand behaviour that may seem odd or out of character for families.  For example the person with dementia may start walking up and down a lot which some people term as ‘wandering’.  This gives an impression that this walking has no purpose but we try and enter their world and join them to try and understand where they are going to or what they may be seeking or wondering about.  Sadly it can be the case that when people living with dementia do walk around it can be because they feel lost and sometimes that feeling is about the loss of aspects of their memory rather than them feeling actually lost and that is when reassurance is important or engaging them in something that interests them.

“A huge amount of the work we do simply involves sitting and chatting with people – that is a major part of caring for people with dementia, and these techniques make it so much easier to engage with people.  We had a family recently who were finding visiting incredibly difficult and would often leave in a very distressed state as they were struggling to communicate – normal small talk about people and day-to-day life often does not work with people with dementia as they might not remember who you are talking about, but by joining their world, they were able to reminisce about things from the past that put a smile onto everyone’s faces – it was a truly transformative experience for the whole family,” says Marie.

Marie explains that even something as simple as looking through a photograph album should be approached in a slightly different way.  “The person may be 80 years old, but believe that they are 25, so if you are looking through old photographs, it is often helpful to point out the other people in the picture – which can be helpful points of reference – but not point out the sufferer, as they simply may not recognise themselves at 50 or 60 years old, in their mind, they are still a youngster!”

This approach feeds into many different aspects of life for residents at Woodlands Park.  Corridors are decorated with familiar pictures to provide an additional aide-memoire for residents to find their own rooms.  Outside each bedroom is a picture frame containing a photograph or image from the resident’s past – many feature pictures of pets or grandchildren – that they find familiar.

“There’s a lot of superb work being done by charities and national organisations to make people aware of the signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s, but the practicalities of simply engaging someone with the condition are often overlooked, and this is where the ‘step into their world’ advice really makes people rethink how they talk to people with dementia,” concludes Marie.

For more information on the award-winning dementia-specialist care at Woodlands Park Care Centre, which is located on Aylesbury Road, just outside the village of Great Missenden, please visit www.foresthc.com or call 08444 725 252.  If you are interested in looking around Woodlands Park with a view to choosing the home for a loved-one, visits are welcomed at any time, with no appointment necessary.

Woodlands Park Care Centre is part of the Forest Healthcare group of homes, which includes 12 individual homes throughout the South East of England.  It was recently awarded the Dignity and Wellbeing in Care award from Buckinghamshire County Council, in recognition of the outstanding dementia provision.

ENDS

For further media information or photographs, please contact:

Jay Commins

Pyper York Limited

Tel:         01904 500698

Email:    jay@pyperyork.co.uk