The Main Assumption behind what we do
All behaviour has meaning …
In dementia, a person’s behaviour or behaviour changes are never seen as senseless, crazy or stupid. Our skilled staff can often pieced together the meaning of a given behaviour in the person with dementia, taking into account previous events, triggers, family information or observation about what the person is trying to do. Reduced logical thinking ability and memory abilities may prevent a person from being able to have insight into their behaviour. Reduced verbal ability can make even attempts to explain it impossible.
We would like to bring your attention to the following extract from ‘Dancing with Dementia’ written by Christine Bryden, who was first diagnosed with dementia in 1995:
“Try to enter our distorted reality, because if you make us fit into your reality, it will cause us extra stress. You need to enter into our reality, connect with us by touch, or by look. You need to be authentically present, not far away. You need to realise that we are not far away or lost, but trapped by an inability to communicate and to think clearly, to express this strange mixed-up world being created by our brain damage. Think about this inner reality that we are experiencing, and try to connect with it. Be imaginative, be creative, try to step across the divide between our worlds.”
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. We aim to enable residents to maximise their abilities and retain their independence as far as possible by agreeing with them (or their relative or representative) individual care plans, supporting them to encourage the retention of daily life skills for as long as possible. We will also provide care and assistance to meet the assessed needs of each resident. To help achieve this we will enlist the support of any relevant professional services and organisations as may be necessary from time to time, for example Psychologists, General Practitioners, Dieticians, Community Mental Health Nurses, Community Nurses, Occupational Therapists etc, according to the needs of each resident.
We ensure the protection of our residents by implementing robust staff recruitment procedures. All staff are thoroughly checked before starting employment with us, including enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Staff training needs are constantly monitored and reviewed to ensure that the appropriate skills and numbers of staff available match those required for the quality care and support of our residents. All staff are trained in safeguarding measures and how to recognise and report any concerns.
We consider it of the utmost importance that the physical environment at Aranlaw House Care Home and Regency Manor Care Home in Poole as well as Seabourne House in Bournemouth should not only be of the highest standard and provide a warm and friendly atmosphere but, that they should also offer unobtrusive security and safety as necessary, to ensure the needs of our residents are met. The environment has been carefully considered in relation to people with dementia, to help them to feel more “at home” and to find their way around more easily.
We aim to provide holistic care and will do our best to ensure that the health, social, emotional and spiritual needs of each individual resident will be met.We will encourage them to maintain and develop relationships with family, friends and social networks and do our best to support families and friends wherever we can. We are keen to maintain and, where possible, improve their quality of life. We want our residents to be comfortable and as happy as can be achieved.
Luxurycare offers residential homes and nursing homes to support residents with dementia, some of whom may also have additional support needs as a result of the problems associated with old age.
The care and support is provided for as long as the Care Homes can meet the needs of the individual, respecting their rights to informed choice, privacy and to always be treated with dignity.
At Luxurycare, our residential care homes, Aranlaw House Care Home and Seabourne House Care Home as well as our dual registered nursing home, Regency Manor Care Home have introduced the Dr Gemma Jones ‘behavioural staging’ model for meeting the needs of older people with dementia and this is possibly quite different to the methods used in many care homes.
Based on the simple assumption that every behaviour has meaning we try to understand what someone maybe trying to tell us through their behaviour. This assumption is consistent through our lives from child hood, through the terrible teens into adult hood. A baby crying or a teenager acting out are significant behaviours that all have meaning.
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) made perhaps the most succinct statement about care:
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.