A Focus on Dementia Care

At Friends of the Elderly, we are proud of the approach we take to support people living with dementia. We are committed to embedding a dementia friendly culture across our charity and delivering tailored care that supports and enables people to continue living independent lives.

We offer specialist dementia care with a focus on quality of life across all our care homes and services, and our approach is to treat everyone as an individual – we believe no one should be defined by a diagnosis of dementia.

We know all too well that discovering your relative has dementia and starting the journey of finding out what kinds of care are available and what considerations need to be made is an emotional one. You may need time to consider the different options and decide what is best for your loved one who is now living with dementia.

Please feel free to talk to us – at whatever stage of this journey you’re on – we’re here to help.

Our Dementia Education Programme

We have partnered with Worcester University’s highly regarded Association for Dementia Studies, working closely with Professor Dawn Brooker. This education programme is not only for frontline staff and managers, but it is rolled out across the whole organisation, including our trustees.

As part of our Dementia Education Programme, we have dedicated Dementia Champions across all our care homes. These staff members attend additional training and work with residents, service users and staff to ensure the highest quality dementia care is provided.

Want to find out more? We recently wrote about our approach to dementia care which we think will be of interest to family members of those living with dementia.

What are the different types of Dementia?

There are five main types of dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Vascular Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia and Mixed Dementia. Our committed staff are trained to support people living with any of these conditions.

How we care for people living with Dementia

The practical support we offer to people living with dementia includes:

• Activities built around individual preferences. These include arts and crafts, music, cooking, reminiscence sessions, poetry, and themed events. We also encourage people to maintain daily living tasks (helping with serving teas/coffees, washing up, folding laundry, and gardening).

• We provide sensory activities for those people who are living with more advanced dementia. Friends of the Elderly homes practice Namaste Care, which involves gentle massage, hand care and nail care, in a warm and cosy environment with gentle music.

• For people who do not wish to sit down and eat a full meal, we provide ‘grazing plates’. These plates are positioned around the care environment with varying types of snacks. This encourages people to eat as they stroll around – helping maintain their nutritional intake. Water and juice jugs are also placed around our homes – again promoting independence and encouraging people to keep hydrated.

Paying for Dementia Care

There are funding options available for various types of Dementia care depending on the type of care required and the potential resident’s circumstances.
Your local council may be able to help with the costs associated with Dementia care.
Please contact your council prior to applying with us to see if you qualify for any funding.

Please do contact us at enquries@fote.org.uk if you have any further questions about our dementia care services.

Consider Respite Care

Respite care is something that a lot of people caring for a relative with dementia take advantage of. It provides the carer with a short term break whilst the person they are caring for is looked after in one of our homes by our professionally trained staff. It is not just for a few hours off so you can walk the dog, or even a day so you can pop to the shops, it’s much more.

At Friends of the Elderly, we offer a range of respite care options which are tailored to meet your individual needs, whether that be a weekend, a week, a fortnight, a month or longer – we can take on your caring role allowing you to focus on you and give you much needed ‘me time’.

Not only are respite breaks a great way to find out if a care home is right for your relative, loved one and you, they also let you take a well-earned break from caring and give you peace of mind that the person you care for is being looked after by our professional, compassionate, sensitive and attentive teams, in a safe and secure home from home environment.

Visit our respite care section or get in touch to find out more about how we can help.