Archive for the ‘Designing for dementia’ Category

Everything’s easy when you know how, It didn’t take long for Robin Wearn and his colleague to take down a massive connifer in the drive. Rita approved as it now floods her room with light (and she can see people come up the drive!)

At Rose Lodge we are much inspired by David Sheard’s work on dementia care. One of his themes is about reducing the barriers that can exists between carers and residents. Uniforms are one such barrier. They can make residents feel they are in some kind of instituation such as a hospital (and wouldn’t that make anyone feel ill and somehat passive ?). And it can also make carers feel more detached than we want them to be at Rose where we encourage real relationship between carers and residents, and our aim is  to create an environment where residents and carers live and work together. Not quite like home, but more like a homely social club where you can stay the night.

A few weeks ago we started a trial where care staff wear normal clothes instead of uniforms and my sense is that this is already helping to create a more supportive and comfortable social environment for the residents.

Like today, when carers and residents were enjoying each other;s company during a craft activity. Lovely!

A peculiar set of translations takes place when Wim (our handyman), Giorgios and I discuss the work they are doing in the gardens. Wim and I are both Dutch but my Dutch isn’t so good so we speak English. Giorgios is Greek but his Dutch is a lot better than his English so he talks dutch with Wim. So we have one Dutchman translating another Dutchman’s English into Dutch to a Greek Still, things are getting done, as you can see from these pictures. The foundations for the ‘chicken terrace’ and the path down to the new vegetable beds are now laid. We should be all done in 2-3 weeks, ready for our grand opening party on 21st March.

Sofar Wim and Georgios  have discovered two tree roots. Once they have finished their excavation, we might as well ask them to lay a new path from the lounge door to the new vegetable beds. That will make it much easier for residents to make their way into the garden.

As we started constructing the raised vegetable beds we got really excited, realising there was an opportunity to make big improvements to how residents use the terrace and garden. By spring time we will have a new terrace alongside the chicken run, in the process connecting the bungalow terrace with the main terrace, so giving easy access to the chicken run and the bungalow terrace for our residents. There will be a new lawn on the upper level that residents can see and access directly from the lounge, and where they can sit in the shade under a pergola surrounded by fragrant climbers – a perfect place to spend some time with family and friends. A new access path down to the vegetable beds and the gardens will run straight down from the lounge door and we believe this will invite many more residents to grow vegetables and explore the gardens. A new gate door will provide garden access onto Isca Road. By keeping the ‘traffic’ away from the downstairs rooms, those rooms will have a greater sense of privacy. We have gone through several iterations of the design to make the sure the layout is safe and logical so that it is easy for residents to navigate, including those that use a wheelchair. I think we got there now….