Lots of advice please

[steve a]

Hi
I have worked in the care sector for the past 15 years as a head chef. I have recently moved to a Dementia care home in Guildford where i run the kitchen and i work on the care floor. i am being supported with my NVQ level 5 health and social care leadership qualification to hopefully realise my dream of running my own care home. I have taken it upon my self to completely redo the residents dining room to make it more dementia friendly and (this is the purpose of my post!) can anyone give me some pointers with this? my idea was an out door cafe scenario with window boxes, doors, road signs, a lamp post and a telephone box and i want to open a memory cafe, for the local community possibly once a week, who have ties with people with dementia here in Guildford and i was hoping for some guidance with this. I have done lots of 'understanding dementia courses' and recently we had the virtual Dementia bus pay us a visit.
Anything you can tell me would be gratefully received and thank you for reading my babble

Steve

 

[chris53]

Hello Steve,a warm welcome to Talking Point,great that you are trying to make a difference,everyone without dementia is different so put dementia into the mix and life can go upside down some really great ideas you can come up with, I am guessing that the dining room is in gentle pastel hues - pink or lilac,this in itself can be a calming influance- which is why that custody suites in police stations are done in gentle coloursmaybe some sensory smells like lavender would be good, coloured plates, mugs seem to encourage our elderly to eat and drink, for some reason white plates and cups do not register on the brain,red it seems is the ideal colour,probably the most important thing is to help/encourage your clients to eat,interact with them not leave them staring at a plate of food and be thinking what do I do with this,give them time to eat, with dementia, eating can be a difficult task and a lot of us carers need to go back to the "old days" with old fashioned foods and puddings, sadly with so many in care homes have massive weight loss due to just being left to get on with it at meal times..there is no care,kindness and no dignity in treating our parents/OH like they don't matter just because they are in care homes,get to know them as people and if your memory cafe takes off,please talk to the carers.
Good luck
Chris

 

[HillyBilly]

My first thoughts - an outdoor cafe scenario would be disorientating? Off-putting? Not conducive to feeling warm and comfortable and ready for a meal. Esp at breakfast!

 

[Lawson58]

Perhaps you could make it an indoor cafe style, and give it a 50s feel, a time that many PWD can still relate to. You could have a little music from the time on your memory cafe events.

I think it's great what you are trying to do and I hope that you can make the difference you are aiming for. Welcome.

 

[LadyA]

A cafe/restaurant feel for a care home dining room is a great idea. The dining room at my husband's nursing home was done like that. It helped that it was in a very old building - very high ceilings, chandeliers, bay windows, picture rails. But it was set out with small tables with pretty table cloths (yes, they were wipeable oilcloth - but they were white, "linen-look" oilcloth), each table had a small bud vase with a single flower in it. The decor was pale peach & pale lemon - which sounds weird, but actually went very well together, and gave the room a lovely warm, sunny feel - and at Sunday lunch, the residents who could have alcohol (those who were not on contra-indicative medication) could have a choice of red or white wine with their meal. The whole ambience certainly made a big difference to my husband - he loved his meals there.