Orchid Care Home - Dementia Market Place

Orchid Care Home – Dementia Market Place

Find Memory Care and Orchid Care Home have been hard at work, designing The Orchid Market Place – which will create a fantastic dementia-friendly environment.

Wall mural, Memory Lane Café

The orchid care home, located in Swindon, U.K., caters to residents who require nursing care, suffer mental health issues like Alzheimer and dementia, and need end-of-life care.
They state: “We at Orchid pride ourselves in delivering optimum levels of care to those that reside with us. The facilities in the home are second-to-none, and the ample space around the home enables the service users to be independent and enjoy their individual pursuits in a safe environment…”

The new Market Place incorporates various Find Murals, such as a Toys and Games shop, a Memory Lane Cafe, a Launderette and a Post Office, and is paired with 3-dimensional, interactive elements.

Wall mural – Post office with 3D enhancements

The combination of both the Murals and 3D elements helps to ‘set the scene’ for pleasurable activities and encourages social engagement.
Orchid Care Home’s Resident Manager, Dawn Drew, was very motivated to get this project right and fly the flag for the other homes within the group. The home has earmarked the 1st November 2017 as the opening for their new Market Place.
The Find team had the pleasure of meeting some of Orchid Care Home’s residents, in anticipation of the opening, and found it very rewarding to interact with them in their own environment.

Activities for dementia care

One gentleman, in particular, was very interested in the Post Office and Toy Shop. The toy cars encouraged him to tell us about his time working for one of the big car manufacturers in the area. It was fabulous to see his eyes light up when he was sharing a bit of his life history.
One of the reasons the Market Place will be so effective in encouraging social interaction is because the Murals feature carefully chosen reminiscence images.
‘Reminiscence’ images help to draw on a person’s memory by prompting them to recall life experiences from their past – a powerful communication strategy for people with dementia.

Wall mural for laundry room

Pairing 3D elements with this reminiscence help create a two-way flow of information between the environment and the users. This will generate a social atmosphere and encourage users to be more active.
Furthermore, making dementia-specific activities available (such as reminiscence jigsaws) will engage residents with appropriate levels of stimulation and prompt conversation to recall valuable memories.

Making these simple changes to a care home environment can also help to minimise or eliminate behavioural problems associated with dementia.
This is because challenging behaviour can be a result of social and/or environmental changes and often manifest as frustration – through the inability to communicate effectively.
Create an engaging home with interactive features will alleviate boredom and keep people engaged and conversational, supporting a calmer environment.

Find Memory Care has assisted Orchid Care Home in bringing the Orchid Market Place to life, supporting them in their exciting project – which will help enrich the lives of their residents who live with dementia.

Do you want to create a dementia-friendly facility and improve your CQC and PLACE ratings?

We understand it can be difficult to know where to start and how to implement environmental changes for the maximum benefit of all involved in the process. That is why we offer a FREE, NO OBLIGATION ENVIRONMENTAL VISIT which will provide you with all the recommendations you need.

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