Life on our first floor community at Holbeach Meadows

Residents have settled well into life on our first floor at Holbeach Meadows.  We were pleased to open the first floor a few weeks ago, with a special focus on our dementia care community and the needs that these residents have.

Holbeach have introcuded initiatives to make life easier for people living with dementia. We have provided an education for both the team and resident’s families. The night care team have dressing gowns to wear when residents are awake in the night, this helps to reassure residents that it is nighttime and the time to sleep, rather than increase their confusion by seeing people dressed in work clothes.

We have blue plates and mugs to increase nutritional intake. Dementia can affect vision tremendously and lead to a number of wider problems, blue is a colour that is retained and recognised by people with dementia, so their attention is drawn to the mugs and plates.  Food such as mashed potato, cream sauces and ice cream or drinks such as milk, can fade into a white plate and a person with dementia may not see it is there, and therefore not eat it.

The residents also choose to come together for most of their meals upstairs and have built quite a little community up there, we have already seen these resident’s gaining weight which is fantastic.

We have a focus on life skills activities on the first floor, always on hand are baskets of socks to pair and blankets and towels to fold, the residents help to lay the tables, clear the tables and do the washing up too.  Life skill activities provide a person with dementia a sense of purpose, for many, they have regressed to a time in their lives when they would have been busy working or keeping a house, so it is important that we focus on those skills they have retained through a whole lifetime of using them and enable them to continue with their independence and occupation.

We also have dementia dolls and soft toy animals that provide a sense of comfort and promote feelings of relaxation and pleasure.  Doll therapy can provide a sense of soothing and calming and caring for the doll or animal is another way in which we can give people a sense of purpose which boosts their self-esteem and wellbeing.  We also have our rummage room, which we are busy filling with items that residents will recognise from their homes and workplaces of previous decades.  Our growing collection of items include ornaments, records, hats, purses, handbags, postcards, telephones – all available, all day, every day, for residents to take, use, look at, fiddle with – whatever makes them happy and feel at home. Along with items from the past, we have activity blankets and aprons that are full of buckles, fastenings and different textures to occupy hands.

Holbeach Meadows provides resdiential and dementia care. The home is located in the heart of a new housing estate on Daisy Road in Holbeach. If you are interested in finding out more, please book your visit today by calling our team on 01406 431222, our friendly team are on hand to help you every step of the way.