Dementia care is challenging yet hugely rewarding work. It’s a significant part of aged care but there is a chronic shortage of dementia care facilities in Northland. Astoundingly, Kerikeri Retirement Village is one of the main providers of dementia care in the Mid North.
We’re really good at it, too, but we just can’t keep up with demand. It’s one of the reasons we are planning to expand our care facility but even this won’t meet demand.
We’re putting in place a range of solutions to help manage demand to the best of our ability. One of these is the adoption of a model of care called 'Spark of Life'. Our clinical manager Kathy Renner has just returned from Western Australia, where she learned more about this model of care and how to implement it.
The literature says that ‘Spark of Life’ offers “a gentle, practical approach to ignite the human spirit, awaken dormant abilities and dissolve challenging behaviours.”
Practically, what this means is that ‘Spark of Life’ is a better way of communicating with residents who have dementia. It’s about focusing on their emotional wellbeing instead of simply their physical care.
The approach gives dementia patients a tangible purpose to life, enabling them to reconnect with those around them and feel more valued and worthwhile. Often this involves giving people with dementia a meaningful role within our community.
We’ve already started down this track by getting several of our residents involved with our gardening and catering teams. This has enhanced their feeling of belonging and self-worth. This in turn has led to a desire to take care of themselves more effectively through diet, personal grooming and engagement with their surroundings. Which then leads to a reduction in challenging behaviour.
It’s a holistic approach and involves every aspect of a dementia patient’s life. It can’t be implemented piecemeal and requires a team approach. There is opportunity for community involvement, too, as we will be asking for volunteers and family to help implement this programme with training and support from our ‘master educators’.
In short, ‘Spark of Life’ is centred around the patient’s needs and purpose, that all carers, family and Village volunteers can engage in. It helps reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs and, ultimately, reduces the need for secure wings. Family and nursing staff alike report much happier residents as a result, reducing family anxiety and enhancing the working environment for staff.
Personally, what I like most about ‘Spark of Life’ is that it feels right and it doesn’t just apply to dementia sufferers; there are so many elements of it that apply to all of us in our daily lives. It’s how I’d like to be looked after if I ever end up in care.
