Dementia is a life changing condition, but doesn’t have to be
life-ending" - community projects helping people with dementia stay
independent
Research presented at Alzheimer’s
Association’s International Conference 2012 showed that a co-ordinated,
multidisciplinary approach to care in the home can improve quality of life and
can greatly reduce the need for people with dementia to leave their homes,
allowing them to live independently for longer.
Through interventions including
multidimensional needs assessments, memory disorder education and counselling,
the team saw a significant drop in the need for participants to be transferred
to a care home. Participants also reported improvements in quality of life.
Louise Lakey, Alzheimer's Society
policy manager said: “Most people with dementia want to live independently for
as long as possible. This study shows this is entirely possible when trained staff
work together in partnership to support people in the community.
“The kind of joined up care
demonstrated in this study is sadly all too rare. Dementia care shouldn't just
be about carers or clinicians working in silos. We need to see more dementia specific
training for professionals and joined up working in order to improve care
quality and ultimately improve the quality of life of people with dementia.”
The launch of the Prime Minister’s
dementia challenge announcing his commitment to make the UK a world leader on
dementia has put the spotlight community dementia projects.
Newly opened this June, EachStep
Blackley is a brand new North Manchester based dementia care service that
offers specialist dementia services including home care, day care, respite care
and residential and nursing support.
The new and innovative service provides
compassionate, tailored support, delivered by highly trained staff in state-of-the-art
facilities.
Sue McLean, director of quality and
standards at Community Integrated Care explained how EachStep was: “started
from scratch, so that we could create a service that is completely tailored to
the needs of people living with dementia but importantly, also offers support
for family carers too.”
All staff have been recruited from the
local community and chosen because they are passionate about dementia. They
have been trained specifically in dementia care and safeguarding.
EachStep Dementia Home Care is a
specialist service in Greater Manchester helping people to continue to live
independently in their own homes. The service delivers a range of support, day
and night, to give people living with dementia security, independence and
comfort and can help with
• Personal Care – washing, dressing,
help with medication or preparing meals.
• Domestic services – household tasks
such as shopping, laundry, ironing or housework.
• Social support – accompaniment to
appointments, leisure or social activities.
• Respite services – offering family
and other carers the opportunity to take some time out from their role.
Ms Mclean said: “Our home care service is totally adaptable to an
individual’s needs, interests and personality. As well as delivering the usual
domiciliary care services, like personal care and help to maintain a home, we
also support people to pursue their hobbies and access their community. For
instance, we take keen swimmers to their local pool and support people who
enjoy walking to go to the park.
“Home
care also allows carers to take some time out from their valuable role, so for
example we can offer people short packages of support to give family carers
time out to go shopping.
“But, as an integrated dementia care
service, EachStep can offer carers much greater support. EachStep Blackley
includes a respite care service, so if carers need to take longer breaks, for
instance to go on holiday, we can also help them to do this. Carers gain real
assurance knowing that their loved one is not only being supported by people
who have a specialist knowledge of dementia but also know their family member
equally well too, having supported them at home.”
Carolanne Devlin, EachStep home care
support worker joined the EachStep Home Care team to make a difference to the
lives of people with dementia She thinks it is important that people with the
condition can live in their own homes for as long as possible, enjoying a good
quality of life.
Ms Devlin said: “The support I give
depends upon the needs and interests of my clients. I support one lady,
Beattie, who enjoys going out walking, having been a member of the Ramblers
Association in her youth. We go out twice a week to her local park and this
makes a great difference to her. She told me recently that I have given her
some of her independence back, which was a lovely thing to hear and exactly the
reason why I go to work.
“Beattie also recently joined
EachStep’s Day Care Service, attending three days a week. She loves attending
day care as it gives her the opportunity to meet new people and take part in
activities. The staff who deliver home care to Beattie also work at our day
care service too, so Beattie was helped to settle into this new service by
familiar people who know her and her needs well.
“This is a great example of how by
providing an integrated package of dementia care services, EachStep is able to
help people as their needs change and give them an easier transition through
care services.
“Dementia is a challenging condition
and EachStep really support staff like me to properly understand it and find
better ways to offer support. I have been given lots of training including
EachStep’s own Dementia Awareness course and training sessions with Admiral
Nurses. This commitment from EachStep has really helped to develop us as
professionals and enhance the care we give.”
Beattie Hubbard, who uses EachStep home
care said: “I like walking, if I couldn’t go out walking, I think I’d be
miserable! It’s freedom and I’m used to that. I’m very lucky to have the help I
have, Carolanne is good company and she cheers me up.”
EachStep is passionate about raising
awareness of dementia and people can contact the service directly or be
referred by their healthcare specialist. For more information visit:
www.each-step.co.uk/
Circles of Support for People with
Dementia is an innovative three year project which involves local organisations
and groups of people developing ‘Circles’ which are a support network improving
awareness, understanding and confidence in enabling people to live well with
dementia.
The project is the work of The National
Development Team for Inclusion, (a not-for-profit organisation concerned with
promoting inclusion and equality for people who risk exclusion) and Innovations
in Dementia, who work nationally with people with dementia, partner
organisations and professionals with the aim of developing and testing projects
that will enhance the lives of people with dementia.
Funded by the Department of Health’s
Innovation, Excellence and Service Development Fund, Circles of Support for
people living with dementia will be developed in the south of England, mid
Devon, Dorset, West London and Portsmouth.
This established model enables older
and disabled people to lead the lives they want to lead, ensuring that the
person is in the driving seat of key decisions about their support.
The Circles build upon people’s natural
networks in their local communities including family members, neighbours,
friends and volunteers, as well as paid staff. The aim is to provide shared
support to help people carry on living in their local communities and stop
their networks from shrinking, which often happens as people grow older and if
people have dementia.
The Circle helps the person to identify
what they would like to do in their day-to-day life, what support would enable
it and then is able to make this happen. This project is working directly with
people to help them set up and run Circles of Support.
The benefits to individuals from
participating include:
• Support for people with dementia
(along with their families and carers) to identify what would help them to live
well, and practical changes to enable this to happen
• Support for people with dementia
(along with their families and carers) to expand their personal networks – both
social and support networks
• Helping everyone involved to acquire
new skills, confidence and experience in using person centred approaches,
including Circles of Support, to provide effective support that helps people
stay connected, included and living at home.
Caroline Bernard, programme lead on
older people and ageing at NDTi said: “When people develop dementia they often
find their personal and natural networks of support getting smaller. Families
and friends are either reluctant to help, frightened by the condition or unable
to see how they could contribute.
“As a result many people with dementia
miss out on opportunities for support and advice and can become isolated,
depressed and vulnerable to other health issues. People with dementia and their
families tend to manage alone. ‘Circles’ will improve awareness, understanding
and confidence in enabling people to live well with dementia.”
Rachael Litherland, director of
Innovations in Dementia described the response of local communities about the
new project: “We have been delighted with how supportive local people and local
communities have already been about the idea of circles of support for people
with dementia.
“Dementia is a life changing condition,
but doesn’t have to be life-ending. There has been a strong feeling from local
networks that they can play a very important role in helping people with
dementia keep connected and involved in their lives and communities for as long
as possible, with the right support.”
For more information visit:
www.ndti.org.uk/major-projects/circles-of-support-for-people-with-dementia/
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I always say that we may have this illness, but we are all so different.
This is my own daily problems, but I would gladly share anyone elses, if they send them in,