The Canadian-born DementiAbility, developed by Gail Elliot, Founder and CEO, aims to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia in care homes. Earlier this year, one of Jewish Care's residential care homes received the DementiAbilty accreditation. 

Jewish Care is the largest health and social care organisation for the Jewish community in London and the South East. The charity has a wide-range of services dedicated to supporting people living with dementia, including dementia day centres for people living with dementia, residential care homes that provide specialist dementia care as well as a community dementia groups.

The DementiaAbility programme enables care home staff to make connections between the individual, their life story, the environment, and behaviour to identify opportunities for engagement, making changes to create new stimulating activities, in addition to those scheduled, which support autonomy and empower the individual. The concept is evidence based, drawing on research from many disciplines including occupational therapy, activities, psychology, neuroscience, memory research, nursing, design features for dementia, social work, and person-centred care.

 

Jewish Care’s Kun Mor and George Kiss Home at The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre in Friern Barnet is the first care home in the UK to receive DementiAbility accreditation. 

 

Yomi Essiet, Registered Manager at the home, says, “The pioneering programme delivers enhanced, person-centred dementia care, training staff to make connections between the individual, their life story, behaviour and the environment.It is great to see the residents are encouraged by being supported to remain in control of their daily choices and activities each day. We have observed that the programme is improving mental well-being, evidence that DementiAbility is working positively.” 

 

Staff are encouraged to identify personalised opportunities to create stimulating activities for residents, supporting fulfilment and autonomy. Jewish Care Dementia Practitioners, Penny Johns and Tamer Ali have been training care and hospitality staff, which is possible thanks to the support of generous donors. 

The innovative techniques from the Canadian-born programme that staff have introduced, range from offering a breakfast buffet, so residents can choose from the buffet or mobile trolly to make their own selection as they would have at home all their lives, to inviting residents to take part in practical and purposeful tailored tasks, as well as participating in doll therapy, connecting them with nurturing memories and emotions that they may have experienced in their lifetime as parents and grandparents, which create a sense of wellbeing for many. 

 

The team at Kun Mor and George Kiss care home learned from relatives of one resident who wasn’t engaging in activities, that he had been a taxi driver. He had always taken pride in washing his car every weekend. They invited the resident to clean garden furniture in the summer, so that residents could enjoy sitting out. This gave the gentleman a sense of purpose and engagement, as did lending a hand cleaning up after flower-arranging and art, with the additional role of livening up the conversation with the group whilst cleaning up. Staff observed that his social needs seemed to be better met, and his relationships improved.

 

 Another colleague tried bringing a bird house and screwdriver to another resident, after discovering that the gentleman had enjoyed DIY at home. The resident welcomed this tailored approach, linking his creativity with a purposeful task at the care home.  

The care and hospitality team continue to identify opportunities to create stimulating activities for residents, supporting fulfilment and autonomy. Penny says, “It’s about finding the individual, meeting them where they are, working sensitively and with empathy to meet human needs for connection, occupation, and autonomy. Creating an enabling environment where the emphasis is on ability and potential.”

 

As one resident, Doris, says, ‘it’s about respect for what people can do, not what they can’t do, and respect for what they’re trying to do.’

Jewish Care has three specialist dementia care homes and five day centres for people living with dementia,  as well as 11 specialist groups for people living with dementia and their family carers. 

 

Visit Jewish Care’s website to find out more information about Jewish Care’s services and support. 

 

CommonAge, the Commonwealth Association for the Ageing, launched its Dementia in the Commonwealth report on Friday 6th September at the International dementia conference in Sydney, Australia.  Read the story here