fbpx

Putting the Fun Back Into Food for People With Dementia

For people with dementia, maintaining a healthy and balanced diet can be difficult. People often feel less like eating for a number of reasons. Food might not taste the same as it used to, or sometimes it can be physically hard to eat because of pain or reduced motor skills and coordination. Depression is also common, meaning that meal times and food lose their appeal.

When communication becomes difficult, the only way to express the fact that food is too hot, too cold, hard to eat, or just doesn’t taste right may be to leave it. And not eating or eating the wrong things could make a condition worse. While there is no conclusive proof, there is a growing body of evidence to say that a healthy diet, low in salt and saturated fats, and high in antioxidants and Omega-3s can help slow the onset of dementia.

Dementia and Nutrition

There are many things that can be done to encourage people with dementia to eat and drink more and the Alzheimer’s Society has some excellent information on its website. We use many of these techniques at Sherborne House, which specialises in dementia care.

Overall, we aim to reconnect people with the enjoyment of food and eating. Partly this is through the design of the eating environment so that mealtimes are calm and as free of distractions as possible. We also encourage residents to engage with their food by preparing healthy sandwiches and fruit salads and by baking cakes. These are fun, social activities that help to associate food with positive emotions and thoughts, rather than being a source of anxiety or conflict.

The positive culture around eating not only stimulates appetites, it helps residents feel more confident and in control of their lives. Discussions about food can also stimulate reminiscence and maintain sensory abilities.

On the one hand eating and drinking can be a challenging aspect of dementia care, but they can also be therapeutic and encourage greater engagement with other people and enjoyment of life.

Why not come and see for yourself what life at Sherborne House is like? Contact us today on 01305 300 161 to arrange a visit.

Altogether Connect – Now You Can Take Advantage of Our Recruitment Expertise

Running multiple care homes and care at home services across Dorset, South Somerset and Hampshire means we have a wealth of experience in recruiting staff for a wide range of roles. As well as our excellent care staff we also recruit commercial and domestic cleaners, handymen, chefs and nurses.

Our reputation for excellence is built on our people so we’ve become adept at finding and selecting people with the skills and personal attributes needed to succeed in a service environment.

Our staff resourcing process is highly developed and effective. So, we thought, why not share that expertise? Within the communities we work in there are countless businesses who need to recruit people with similar skills. These include hotels, pubs, restaurants, doctors’ surgeries, offices, schools and other care homes. Individual home owners also sometimes need cleaning and handyman services.

Introducing Altogether Connect

Altogether Connect is a new service to help a wide range of organisations find the staff they need. Now there is a simpler and cost-effective way to source temporary and permanent staff for the roles mentioned above. Our specialist recruitment team can help with everything from creating job descriptions and advertising through to pre-selection of candidates.

For smaller businesses, recruitment can eat up time that could be spent more productively elsewhere. It might not be something that you have been trained to do. And making poor recruitment decisions can be costly.

Altogether Connect takes the stress and uncertainty out of recruitment. Unlike a standard recruitment agency, we have first-hand experience of how people tend to perform once appointed. This gives us an additional insight into the individuals who are likely to be the best fit for your needs.

So, if you’re a hotel, pub, restaurant, school, surgery, or indeed a care home, and you’re looking for staff in Dorset, South Somerset and Hampshire, give the Altogether Care Connect team a call today on 01305 235 500. See how we can help save you time and the costs of making the wrong recruitment decisions.

What’s the Best Option for Stress Free Retirement Living?

During retirement it’s not unusual for people to decide that the home they’ve lived in for years no longer meets their needs. It might be too big or too costly to heat and maintain. Or maybe the stairs are becoming a challenge.

Moving to a retirement village or apartment block is a popular choice that many make without necessarily looking at alternatives such as assisted living in a residential home.

Retirement apartments offer the prospect of continued independent living without the hassle of maintaining a property. You will also be surrounded by people at a similar stage of life. However, there are some drawbacks that are not always well-publicised when you buy a leasehold on one of these properties.

Which published an article that describes the hidden costs of retirement homes in detail.

Here are some of the main costs to look out for:

  • Event Fees: an ‘event’ could be selling, subletting or a change of occupancy of your home. The fee for being allowed to do this could be a significant percentage of the market price.
  • Maintenance charges, service charges and ground rent: sometimes these are still payable after you die or move into other accommodation until your home is re-sold.
  • If you sell your home, you may have to do this through the company that owns the freehold. This will probably be more expensive that an estate agent.
  • Because properties are sold on a leasehold basis the amount of time left on the lease will affect the value. Extending the lease can be expensive.

Assisted living at Altogether Care’s luxury care home Steepleton Manor offers all of the convenience with as much independence as you want to enjoy. Unlike retirement villages, there are no hidden fees or maintenance charges. Should your care needs change, you can get the additional help you need without having to move home and incur the costs that you would if you were in a retirement apartment.

If this sounds like the perfect option for you or a loved one, then give us a call today on 01305 300 161 to find out more.

Some recent day to day activities