Cherry Blossom Viewing
This DT program was carried out by Nonbily-Mura Imazu. It is an aged care home of the same group of homes that carries out the Sea Bathing every summer that has previously being shown in the DTA newsletter.
When cherry trees bloom, a friend and the coworkers of work place gather and have a picnic under the cherry-blossom trees. This is a spring custom which many Japanese like very much. Our residents and staff also wanted to enjoy the experience and went to the nearby park.
Some residents have a white board which has written on them the haiku poem (seventeen-syllable) made by itself. One lady is 104 years old and wrote one with so much meaning………
If my husband were here with me, we would write a haiku in a flower garden.
Submitted by: Takako Serizawa, President DTAJ
The Scrapbooking Project
Winner of 2012 Positive Living in Aged Care Award and the 2013 Better Practice Award.
An article about the project was also published in the Australian Journal of Dementia Care.
Not always but more commonly people refer to a location or dwelling as feeling like home when they get to know it better and as they get the opportunity to put their own stamp on it.
It is no different for Residents of aged care in that they too will feel more at home when they have a better understanding of the home, how it operates and how it began and developed. Being able to see something they made hanging on the wall or displayed on the coffee table enhances the sensation of feeling at home and even more so if they are able to point it out to their visitors as something they have contributed to their home.
Residents who were withdrawn, showing symptoms of depression, feeling isolated and alone were identified. The methods used to identify these Residents were through activity attendance information, medical records, Cornell Scale of Depression, care plans, progress notes and staff verbal input. After speaking with these Residents I encourage them to come to social morning teas but they only attended a few and wouldn’t go to any other programs. When asked, the Residents stated that they feel sad, missed their home and that they didn’t belong.
After speaking further to these Resident it was discovered that many had built their own homes, often first with a temporary building the size today of a small garage before building the family home. A collection of photographs of Peninsula Village being built was found in the archive room. After taking these photographs to other staff to show them the old photos it was suggested to scrapbook the photographs rather than leave them in the old photo albums. This is where the project started giving the idea that these photographs could be used as a tool for the Residents that didn’t feel they belong. The aim of the project was as these Residents scrapbooked the photographs of Peninsula Village being built from the ground up that the Residents were now building their new home together.
Resident’s wellbeing was assessed before, during and after the project using the “Satisfaction with Life as a Whole” survey which was obtained from Deakin University. Wikipedia defines “Life satisfaction” as the way a person perceives how his or her life has been and how they feel about where it is going in the future. The results from the three surveys were collated and showed 60% improvement in the Resident’s satisfaction with their lives after the project.
Project Design
I didn’t know much about the techniques of scrapbooking and sort advice from experts in the field. I consulted with Stacey Howe’s Paper craft. After speaking with Stacey I realised that some of details required in telling the story on each page may be too fiddly for the Residents. I approached Brisbane Water Secondary College asking for assistance from some students. Six students and a teacher were happy to help.
I recruited an art/history consultant and community volunteers for further assistance. Meetings were held with the Residents, students, teacher and staff to discuss the project. It was decided that a scrapbooking workshop with Stacey Howe’s Paper Craft would be necessary to give everyone the skills required.
As the Residents worked on the project with the assistance of the students they revealed aspects of themselves. Residents told the students about how difficult building materials were to purchase, how they had fun with the simplest things and even relayed sad times. One of the Residents stated when they saw the photograph of the bricklayers laying the foundation of Peninsula Village that it reminded her of her beautiful home’s foundation being laid by her husband and neighbour and how she made scones for them. The scone recipe is included on that scrapbook page.
The ongoing project continues to tell the history of Peninsula Village and the Resident’s life stories. The pages include Resident’s life memories including recipes, poems and personal photographs. As a by-product of the project we, the staff of the Leisure and Lifestyle Department, have a much richer and more comprehensive knowledge and understanding of each of the Resident’s lives before they became part of our Peninsula Village family. This gives us more knowledge to achieve our purpose of enhancing quality of life for our Residents.
Materials for the project are easy and cheap to gather. I encourage everyone to give it a go.
It works.
Paula Newman
Lifestyle Manager
Peninsula Village Ltd, Central Coast N.S.W