Dementia and Alzheimer’s Care

Because the condition damages different areas of the brain and leads to a variety of challenging symptoms, every person’s experience of dementia is unique to the individual. It is for that reason that the most important aspect of dementia care is that it should be personal to the individual.

As part of this approach our home is designed around dedicated dementia support not only to help those with dementia to live well, but so they also feel comfortable and at home.

In tune with this approach we give residents the opportunity to enjoy a temporary respite stay with us so they have the chance to feel at home in a new environment and get to know the other residents and nursing staff.

At Fairmile Grange we endeavour to learn as much about each resident’s past and their present as possible, enabling us to create a Care Plan as individual as they are. This helps us to consider your loved one’s care needs whilst respecting their preferences, lifestyle, interests, and routines.

We have specific floors that cater for different dementia needs – from the early signs of dementia, behaviour that becomes challenging, and end of life care.

Our dementia dedicated Clinical Leadership Team is supported by skilled care experts, from Home Managers to Clinical Leads and Senior Nurses.

Not only do we insist on ongoing dementia training for all our staff, we also provide coaching and mentoring to so that every member of the team understands the needs of our residents and how to best care for them as individuals.

As part of their induction when they join us, our team members receive compulsory training in order to benefit from learning about dementia and its effects. As a result of this training our staff are better able to communicate with individuals with dementia and support them to live well using person-centred approaches to care for those with behaviour that challenges.

Providing a familiar, safe environment that puts an individual at ease is a crucial element of dementia care. Having the right surroundings can play an important role in reducing stress levels, agitation, sleeplessness, wandering and aggression.

To this end Fairmile Grange is purpose-built to be dementia-friendly, from the layout of the building to sensitive décor and interior design. Our homely environment considers colour, lighting, layout, noise, and access to space and gardens – all factors that help ensure residents living with dementia feel at home and comfortable.

In this respect we encourage all residents to bring their own possessions, mementos, and photos to help trigger happy memories. At the entrance of each bedroom there are purpose-built memory boxes for residents to display some of these items.

We have professional chefs with the expertise to create freshly prepared and delicious 3-course meals that are nutritional, appetising and able to be adapted to suit the tastes of all our residents, including diets requiring specially prepared soft foods. For residents on a puree diet, our chefs have the necessary skills to accommodate their needs by using techniques such as piping and moulds to recreate certain foods and textures that reproduce the tastes and appearance on the plate.

We endeavour to make mealtimes something that each one of our residents can look forward to with a wide variety of dishes that everyone will enjoy.

Some of our residents, especially those with dementia, prefer to eat when they feel the need to, rather than at set mealtimes, so we ensure there are light meals and snacks always available throughout the day. Residents are also able to choose to eat in their rooms or join others in the dining rooms.

Our landscaped gardens are designed around the seasons using carefully cultivated arrangements of plants with pleasant textures, colours or scents that residents will enjoy touching and smelling, and that may often promote reminiscence.

We have designed the gardens to create what we call a natural walking ‘flow’ so our residents can enjoy a continual walk around the garden features that avoids abrupt ends to paths. Raised flower beds are also carefully designed features that make it easier for residents to appreciate and tend if they wish.

We have a range of activities that all of those living with dementia are encouraged to become actively involved in. As dementia affects people mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, we design our activities for their therapeutic and mentally stimulating influence.

The activities on our dementia floors are shaped around groups, or are carefully personalised one-to-one activities to suit individuals.

By learning what they can about each person’s interests, hobbies and preferences, and depending on the resident’s care needs, our Wellbeing team will choose activities that please all our residents and encourage them to participate, creating an environment where everyone feels included and engaged.

Bournemouth University is a valuable dementia resource for the community. We work closely with the University and are members of the clinical working group.

In our continued efforts to ensure that we remain at the forefront of clinical excellence, our ambition is to align our dementia strategy and processes with best practice and cutting-edge research from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University.

Fairmile Grange is a valuable dementia resource for the community, and as such is recognised in the area for providing innovative training to residents’ relatives and local healthcare professionals.

As dementia affects all the senses, we use innovative, specially adapted body suits in our Virtual Dementia Suit Training to simulate the effects and symptoms of ageing and dementia.

Through this advanced form of training, the participant is able to experience what it might be like for someone living with the disease, and goes some way towards helping them make residents more comfortable when communicating with them.

Take a sneak peek into some of the fantastic dementia training we offer in this video.