Over the last few months things have really developed and are working very well in our Dementia Day Care Centre.
It’s open between 10.30 and 14.30 for 4 hours of formal day care which are well-structured, meaningful and appropriate by programmed activities and exercises which are continually adapted and updated. Visitors attending can have extended hours, up to 6 further hours, of informal day care.
People attend from a wide area in Hampshire, and Surrey but we never turn people away based on where the live or postcode!
Anyone can refer to the Day Centre and it is an open referral process which means that individuals, carers, family members, friends and professionals can make a referral for a person with dementia at any time.
We are very proud of our Day Centre and run it in a new and more appropriate and meaningful way – based on a Dutch model and it’s not the traditional kind of Day Centre! What makes Hill House Dementia Day Care Centre so vibrant, fresh and alive is that people who attend will have, through our assessment process, been placed within a group that reflects their needs, abilities, skills and hobbies etc. and largely relate to a specific behavioural stage of a dementing illness. Some attendees cannot wait to get here and one has even said “I want it to start at 9 o’clock!”
We run two groups concurrently and, in a nut shell, these have been specifically designed to meet some of an individuals assessed needs, likes, interests, skills, hobbies etc.
This has been highly successful and means that attendees can, more or less, work through the group activities at their own pace bearing in mind the behavioural and cognitive difficulties that occur within the stages of a dementing illness.
In the first instance, we encourage people to come and have a look around our Day Centre, then to attend a trial session/s in the morning and, if a person would like to attend, we will then carry out a home assessment of the individual and choose a day and date they would like to start.
We can’t tell you the amount of fun the attendees have and good social networks have been (and are being) built up with not just the people who attend but also with their carers who bring their cared-for person along.
We have a great team of professionals and volunteers who are extremely dedicated to making our Day Centre the best it can be and the attendees contribute so much to our learning without even knowing it – so we are very grateful to them for that!
We are pleased to say that feedback has been very positive and, who else would be better to tell you this, and in his own words, than Alan who now attends four days a week ….
“There are several things I would like to say about what it is like for me when I come here to the Day Centre.
All the people here have the same problem. Some of us help the others who have been battling a bit. We support each other here and we have become friends.
I like it here because individuals all help in a small way the person sitting next to them.
Most of the activities are enjoyable, like when someone wins the golf putting.
We look at photos of the royal family, famous entertainers and so on.
The activities are the biggest part of the fun here. We have no problems with the staff, they are great. We have lunch here and the food is very good!
Yes, I enjoy the day centre and look forward to coming. I like the fact that we each have the same problem and knowing that makes it easier.
I think my wife also benefits from my coming to the day centre, although it gives her a couple of extra journeys, it does give her the chance to go shopping and to relax at home.
Thank you for listening to my thoughts on what coming to Hill House Day Centre is like for me.”
For further information or to book a time to come and have a look around, please contact:-
Kandy Redwood – Day Centre Manager on 01252 850 236 or email her on kandy.redwood@woodlandshillbrow.co.uk
