Issue 4 February 2014
Welcome to another edition of Memory Matters News! Its been another busy 12 months and we’ve been working hard to continue to support those living with dementia and those working in the same field.
Memory Matters News Issue 4
WWW.MEMORYMATTERSSW.CO.UK
Last year we were lucky enough to take part in the Santander 50k Social Enterprise Challenge hosted by Plymouth University and Plymouth Social Enterprise Network which saw us pitching to some very influential business people! We were unsuccessful this time but learnt so much from the experience and we are hoping to have the chance to do it all over again next year! Feel free to contact us if you would like any more information regarding any of the pieces covered in this issue. We hope you enjoy this Newsletter.
Kate, Laura and Team
Calling all Friends!!! We are looking to start a Friends of Memory Matters Group The ‘Friends of Memory Matters’ group works two ways. It helps us to fundraise to keep the cost of our services for those with memory difficulties as low as possible and serves as a social group. If you are interested in helping us to coordinate this, talk about what we do, hold a coffee morning or a sponsored event please contact us. We also have a ‘support us ‘ button on our website now which enables us to take donations and you can also find out more about volunteering with us too! We raised £90 at the Lostwithiel Big Jumble in January, which will go towards supporting the clubs. Thank you to all who helped!
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Dementia Providers The staff team then work together with Memory Matters to create a person-centred Memory Matters have been fortunate to activity plan and implement it consistently. have been given the opportunity to run a Our Activity Workers work with the client pilot project providing a service to enhance within the home, alongside the care home the lives of those being nursed on a one to staff providing occupation. one within care homes in Cornwall. Memory Matters were also able to provide This pilot project has been two years in the bespoke, person-centred training in activity making and a passion of Memory Matters. and occupation for the care home if they wish. The project has been funded by Continuing Health Care and supported by Kernow Although this was only a small pilot working CCG. with one care home the results were very positive and showed a marked difference in The aims of the project were to: the confidence of staff to implement activity Increase the quality of life of people and positive results on the number of being nursed on a 1;1 meaningful interactions that occurred. Formulate a consistent home led assessment pathway for those on a 1;1 Up skill care staff in tailoring interventions using activity and occupation Identify a 1;1 lead within the care home team Memory Matters are using various researched interventions including the Newcastle Model which gives a comprehensive psycho-social assessment of every aspect of the person, including The Activity Coordinator Lesley received an award for looking at belief systems and life history to her dedication in taking the pilot forward better understand behaviours.
Enhanced one to one
Care Home Activity Sessions!.
Care Home Activity Training
Memory Matters continue to offer these fun filled 45 minute long group sessions using a variety of different themes to engage and stimulate.
Can you be sure that your team are documenting all the activities that happen during the day?
Incorporating subtle orientation, language stimulation, reminiscence, new learning and a bit of exercise! These sessions are delivered by trained CST therapists with the support of a volunteer! Sessions incorporate warm up fun, music and the exploration of our imaginations using opinions rather than facts so that everyone can take part! Just £45 per session.
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Are they noticing opportunities for engagement? Do you have opportunities for residents to access self- occupation? Our full day activity training is great for focusing the whole team on opportunities for activity within the care home environment . We can help you to excel in your activity standards. £340 in house (Max 12 learners)
As a Community Interest Company, Memory Matters uses any surplus from trading to reduce the cost of vital respite in the community.
Living with Dementia Memory Matters Activity Clubs You may have seen our activity clubs in the papers recently The Activity Clubs remain a great place to be; full of laughter, fun and great friendships. When consulting with people living with dementia, we found that they often wanted stimulating and sociable time with friends. The feedback has been great. One member describes the day as “Thoroughly enjoyable, it’s good! Things come in to your mind that you wouldn’t otherwise think of and the foods pretty alright too!” Members can help prepare the meal if they would like to and all members help
plan the coming weeks activities to ensure that it interests everyone A consultation with the Leadership group found that people were still unhappy to pay for the Activity Club service. We have squeezed the price down to £28 per day and heavily rely on fundraising to keep them going at that price. We would love to hear from more people about how we can sustain the clubs. They are a much needed service and we don’t want them to be exclusive! Some use their personal budgets to pay, others get grant funding. It takes quite a lot of volunteer hours to keep them going but we’re passionate that those living with dementia deserve to flourish at our day clubs. Monday: The Mede, Topsham, Devon Tuesday: Bodmin, Cornwall Wednesday: Lostwithiel, Cornwall Thursday: Wadebridge, Cornwall All at: 10am-4pm
What’s new? Cognitive Stimulation Therapy in Primary Care
Caring for Carers
Our Big Lottery Funding comes to an end this March which saw us providing personal We are always championing development courses for carers Cognitive Stimulation therapy (CST) and last year we received of people living with dementia. Across Cornwall. a grant from Plymouth Community Healthcare CIC to The course delivered by Bernie provide CST groups in Plymouth. and Jenny from Promas CIC has been very popular and carers The results from the first group have told us that the content were remarkable with all has been invaluable in helping participants increasing in their cognition (thinking) scores and to plan for the future and with issues facing them right now. quality of life. One participant said “I am absolutely delighted to see that I have improved. It’s like getting my life back. The groups are excellent. There’s a lot of humour going on and that helps tremendously”
One carer said:
“I cannot express how wonderful I found the whole experience I felt understood , reassured comforted inspired and came away with a wealth of information.” We will continue to search for more funding and hope to put on more courses this year. The last one for now is in Penzance on Wednesday 19th February.
“I went with a very open mind with a hope that there would be Call Laura 01208 871683 to book something positive I could take a place away with me to help me be a better carer for my husband and enjoy the time we have left We will post all the results in our next together in a calm and positive way. issue and on our website!
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An Activity Idea The House session (This session is a group session but could easily be modified for a 1;1) You will need: Picture of house divided in to rooms, Pens, Glue, Large sheet of paper. (You may also like to find some pictures of different types of houses to encourage more discussion). Estate agents are often more than willing to give out old sales brochures. You can also use the property paper. Stick the picture of a house divided in to rooms on a large sheet of paper. The group will help to make a diagram to show all the different things that can be found in each room. You can either use just words or use printed pictures as prompts. To take it further you could collect objects from different rooms in the house for people to hold and decide which room it might belong in. This activity encourages mental organisation. Validate all suggestions after all there are no real right answers! Remember you could potentially put anything in any room! Encourage the telling of stories and reminiscence as well as the introduction of new things. Eg. “Can you think of some things that you might find in the living room today that you might not have found years ago?” Encourage the sharing of opinions… “Would you have a TV in your bedroom? If not , why not? The picture is not really the result here, so don’t worry if it’s scribbly and messy! The result is, of course, the discussion and thinking that you promote during the session. Encourage group members to address each other in conversation and help those who find it difficult to hear or follow by paraphrasing what others have said. By bringing in all the different elements of cognitive stimulation you will be promoting as many new connections in the brain as possible which is what Cognitive Stimulation Therapy aims to do! We tend to use the analogy of the forest fire i.e.. The more trees there are in the forest, the longer it takes for the fire to burn through. By promoting the growth of new brain cells we are making the forest dense. We can’t stop the fire (dementia) but we can attempt to slow it! Cognitive Stimulation Therapy has been proven to be as effective as some of the anti-dementia drugs in trials. If you would like to find out more or would be interested in training contact us.
For more information about any of the projects, services and training available please don’t hesitate to contact Kate using the details below. Memory Matters South West CIC 34 Lakeview Close Plymouth. T: 07813 886706 E: enquiries@memorymatterssw.co.uk Directors: Laura Michael, RMN Kate Smith RGN
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Registered Company No: 7285140 Memory Matters South West CIC are a not for profit company run by nurses who specialise in activities for people living with dementia 4