AAT : Assisted Animal Therapy
Creature comfort care home residents
ANIMAL magic cheered up the elderly residents of a Brixham care home.
Simon Kite of the town's activity services (Sunshine Activities) visited Frencham House with a host of furry friends
Simon, known as the Animal Man, brought along his well behaved but playful dog Bruno for the residents to groom.
He then gave everyone a rug to put on their laps and handeed out various animals such as chinchillas, rabbits, gerbils, guinea pigs and hampsters for them to hold and stroke.
Nick Ross, the manager at the Stonehaven Healthcare Group registered home, said: "Simon also spoke to the residents and gave various information about each animal. It was a fantastic afternoon and put the smile back on peoples faces. The therapeutic benifits were unbelievable.
Residential Care Homes Torquay, Torbay Devon : Activity Provisions
We provide many activities for Residential, Care and Nursing homes in the Devon area.
When looking at activities in Residential Care homes, our staff initialy provide a mix of games, quizzes, physical activities, music and sensory activities.
Getting to know residents is a very important part of our job and we gain as much information as we can from the residents as we do from the carer's.
We understand that the buisness of providing care goes well beyound just sitting and chatting and in many homes there is little time for carers to obtain individual notes.
As our staff get to know your residents, they enter something about them on the activity sheet. It may be something they did that day or it maybe something gained from their past whilst providing reminiscing.
This then builds a portfolio of information that the staff can use and you as a home can build on.
Selected Extracts from 'North West Dementia Care'
Providing Activities for residents in care homes
Activity is important to us all
Everyone has an inbuilt need to participate in
activity and what we do makes us who we are.
Engaging in a balance of self-care, work and
play activities is essential to our physical and
mental well-being and thereby, our quality of
life. People with dementia are no exception -
but dementia inevitably affects the ability to
'do'.
How to select appropriate activities
The main considerations when selecting and
presenting activities are knowing the person
and analysing the activity. It is vital to
'match' the person's level of ability and interest
with a meaningful activity of the correct degree
of challenge. Confronting a resident with an
activity that they no longer have the ability to
complete, or have no interest in, is doomed to
fail and can leave both staff and resident
feeling defeated and frustrated. Conversely
offering an activity that is too easy can be
seen as boring, or even patronising.