Surrey care home gives royal salute to Dementia Care
Howard Lake | 18 July 2011 | News
A care home for former seafarers in Surrey welcomed HRH The Princess Royal to open its new dedicated dementia facility last week (14 July), the first in the UK to provide specialist care to former seafarers suffering from the condition, just days after an All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs called for hospital beds in the UK to be cut by 10 percent.
The ‘Princess Royal Annexe’ has been opened at The Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society (RASS) which provides dedicated accommodation, nursing, and care for former seafarers at the Weston Acres sheltered housing and residential care centre near Banstead.
The new facility will cater for up to 36 residents suffering with the condition, and has been specifically designed to include features enabling care to be tailored to highly individual needs. Residents such as Maurice Parkin (89) and his wife Vera (89), who suffers with the condition, live in rooms with an adjoining door meaning they can continue to live together whilst accessing care specific to Vera’s needs.
The home offers specialised dementia support from trained staff meaning residents don’t have to travel off-site to access care at hospital. Other facilities included a sensory garden which acts as a safe haven for residents to access fresh air as well as hand massage and reflexology, proven to aid relaxation in dementia patients. Memory boxes have also been installed by each resident’s room including items such as photographs, medals and trinkets to aid recognition and independence.
Communication is key to the care that will be delivered at the new unit, and specialists at the home have learned a series of therapies to trigger memories through conversation including memory mapping and nostalgia sessions.
Commander Brian Boxall-Hunt OBE, Chief Executive of Royal Alfred Seafarers Society, said: “We are proud to be welcoming HRH The Princess Royal to our new dementia facility. Recent research has shown the number of people living with dementia is increasing, in fact by 2021 a million people are likely to be suffering from the condition. By combining specialist care for our residents with peer support from fellow mariners we can make the lives of those suffering from dementia as comfortable and fulfilling as possible.”
HRH The Princess Royal said:
“It’s a pleasure to return to see the new annexe. What you have achieved is extraordinary and it has been really well done. It says a lot for the long term planning and care that you give and I hope I have the opportunity to come back to see you all enjoying it. It shows real atmosphere and long term vision and you can have confidence that it will be here for as long as you need it.”
Home Manager Anne Kasey is a Registered Nurse and has been with the charity for 27 years. She adds: “Dementia is such a tragic condition for families, and when in its most severe form, can be a kind of ‘social death’. The identity of the person can disappear as the brain degenerates. This is why it’s so important to work closely with the resident and their family to establish who the person is.
“The charity currently cares for around 20 residents whose dementia is at so severe a level that they can no longer live independently, so ensuring that they are as happy and comfortable as possible on a daily basis is of utmost importance.”
Anne continued: “By providing patients with activities and distractions tailored to their background and interests, we can try to make their later years as comfortable and fulfilling as possible. We have an expression here called ‘seize the day’, which means if we can run an activity or an excursion that we know will benefit a particular resident, we will do it.”
The Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society is a registered charity and was established in 1865. It is incorporated under the Royal Charter, with HRH the Princess Royal as its patron. Its primary aim is to provide accommodation, care and support to former seafarers, who may need special help and like-minded companionship in their old age due to the isolated nature of their careers. Under the Royal Charter, ‘seafarers’ include Merchant Navy, Royal Navy, fishermen and port workers, as well as their widows or dependants. The Society also welcomes residents of non-seafaring backgrounds when able to do so.
For more information on the dementia facility at Weston Acres please contact the home on 01737 360106 or visit the website at www.royalalfredseafarers.com and view the special video.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.