Stone Cross care home residents mark Alzheimer's Awareness Month

Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia, the loss of cognitive functioning – thinking, remembering, reasoning – which can affect a person’s day to day life and activities. Functions that can be impacted are memory, language skills, visual perception, problem solving, self-management and the ability to focus and pay attention. The number of people living with dementia in the UK is forecast to increase to over 1m.

At Barchester, we have been supporting families with pioneering dementia care in specially-designed, dementia-friendly Memory Lane communities since 1992. We strongly believe people living with dementia should enjoy a fulfilled and happy life, with specialist support to continue doing the things they love every day. All Barchester staff receive dementia care training to ensure we provide the best for our residents, and we embrace the very latest technology and techniques to ensure our residents can live a life that feels comfortable, enriching and connected.

General Manager, HeatherNwansi, said: “Alzheimer’s anddementia affect many of our residents so all staff receive specialist dementia training to provide person-centred care at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to provide an environment that helps residents to find their way around independently as much as possible, and that residents are happy to call home.”

During Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, residents spent time learning about how dementia can affect the way we think and perceive things, and thinking about how they could help those people living with dementia. Some of our residents’ friends and relatives attended a course led by staff to become a Dementia Friend in order to give themselves a better understanding of the condition and its effects.

Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.

SycamoreGrove is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. SycamoreGrove provides residential care, Dementia care respite care at our home in Stone Cross.