Here at our luxury care home in Bournemouth, we firmly believe in creating a home from home environment for our residents. All rooms are fitted with a comfortable bed and quality furniture, and are adapted to suit the individual needs of each resident – from mobility aids to hoists.
“If you really want to help somebody, first of all you must find him where he is and start there. This is the secret of caring. If you cannot do that, it is only an illusion if you think you can help another human being. Helping somebody implies your understanding more than he does, but first of all you must understand what he understands. If you cannot do that, your understanding will be of no avail… the helper must be humble in his attitude towards the people he wants to help. He must understand that helping is not dominating, but serving. Caring implies patience as well as acceptance of not being right and of not understanding what the other person understands.”
At Seabourne House, the care that we deliver is heavily influenced by Dr Gemma Jones’ behavioural staging model. The model aims to help us provide residents with a level of care that reflects their current needs and abilities, rather than focus on the implications of dementia as a whole.
The model by Dr Gemma Jones places dementia into stages of progression. Trained to notice the traits of each stage, we can recognise the way in which residents try and adapt to their own changing circumstances. This helps us to plan their care ahead of time, and identify whether changes in mood, personality or well-being are caused by dementia or other aspects of their health.
It is our objective to step across this divide in order to establish relationships with the residents we are supporting. We seek to listen to the voice of each resident with dementia, connect with them and respond with imagination and creativity.
To ease the transition from living at home to moving into Seabourne House, we invite new residents to choose a wall colour for their room. They can also bring with them any photographs and furniture from their previous home; maybe a favourite armchair, a dressing table, a cabinet or a mirror.
You’ll find that all bedroom doors here are brightly coloured, and we place memory boxes covered in meaningful photographs and pictures beside each room entrance. These strategies are designed to trigger associations and minimise confusion; in turn helping residents to recognise which room is theirs on their own.
The communal rooms at Seabourne House are kitted out with cosy armchairs, and have been interior designed to create a warm and relaxed environment in which residents can sit together.
Our hallways are also painted in vibrant colours to ease recognition. The walls are decked in visual cues to trigger memories so that residents can find their own way back to their room.
You’ll find that we like to decorate boards with photographs of what our residents have got up to in recent times. These include trips out and activities that have been happening around the home.
All of the rooms are kept clean by our support services team. Residents are also given the choice to help clean their room if they have expressed an interest in doing so.
