New team at Mill View take on pioneering dementia training

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Apr 16, 2012

Residents at East Grinstead’s newest nursing home will benefit from Care UK’s award-winning experiential dementia training programme that has been proved to boost wellbeing and independence.

On Wednesday 11^th April, the new team at Mill View took part in a pioneering training programme which allows participants to experience some of the effects of dementia first hand and forms part of Care UK’s dementia training programme.

During the training, participants are given direct experience of the dramatic effect that dementia and frailty can have on the senses; special glasses blur their vision, headphones deliver white noise and gloves restrict the movement of fingers. Trainees find themselves being fed food that they cannot see, drinking tea from plastic training beakers and being asked several questions in quick succession without enough time to think of replies.

People who take the training say they feel empowered because they have a greater understanding of what residents are experiencing and they can find unique ways to help each person lead happy and fulfilled lives.

Care UK’s Head of Dementia Services, Maizie Mears-Owen, devised the training. She said: “Helping individuals live their life as they want is the key to everything we are trying to achieve. Staff  leave the course with a much better idea of how frustrating and confusing the world can be to someone with dementia and they quickly realise how they can tailor their approach to make the care they deliver more sensitive.

“If people can drink out of a normal cup, why not offer them their own individual mug?  If they like gardening, why not get them the help and equipment to do it?  These are all people who have led full lives, so why should that stop now? Staff find it empowering - they can find solutions and residents thrive on being offered choice and normality.”

Manager Rosemarie Gray said: “Everyone who works in the home, including those in the office, kitchen and maintenance department will undergo the training because they will be working in the residents’ home and it is important that they see how residents may experience life.

“Helping individuals live their life as they want is the key to everything we are trying to achieve and this training helps by developing empathy and helping employees to understand how people with dementia communicate.

“Our new 70-bed home has been designed, using the latest research, to create an atmosphere where people can remain active, engaged and independent. Along with this training we hope to create a very happy home that helps residents to lead happy and fulfilled lives.”