Makeover Ideas

The nurses station will function much better if there are locked doors. I work agency and the one LTC that I go to has one.... the doors are open above, and of course the counter (it's high enough that you are behind it....) so that you can hear alarms.....

Faye

A 'quite'room, where dementia patients can go and sit and recharge. Sometimes there is so much different sound input from tv's radios, people shouting that dementia sufferers just can't cope with it and become distressed and confused. A reminiscent room is good as well,full of all the things they remember from childhood or their younger,adult days.I'm not sure what your nurses stations look like but the best place is were the maximum rooms and corridors can be observed but it would still have to be secure enough for the nurse to give report without patients hanging around interrupting the proceedings.

A quiet room with comfortable seating, lights that can be dimmed, table with sturdy chairs, not easily tipped over, maybe a wooden basket of cloth dolls of various sizes, large children books with pictures of animals,( dogs, cats, cows, pigs,chickens

horses, and common birds) Picture books of cars,trains, boats and trucks. Sock puppets. Keep it simple, clean, and safe.

My favorite unit was a smallish dementia unit with an upright piano in the "living room" section. I had this dear, old patient with very advanced Alzheimer's in that unit. She was the kind that would wad up her own BM and put it on the dresser. Or would be found "reading" a book upside down. Or would be hitting those who were helping her shower. Always attempting to break out of the unit. You know the type. Anyway, she must have been a pianist in her more lucid years because she would occasionally go over to the piano and just start busting out some old tune. I would almost cry when I watched her play the piano. She had forgotten everything and yet her fingers still remembered these old songs from the 40s and 50s. The other residents loved it and would sit around listening to her play the piano. There was something so therapeutic about her music--both to her and to the other residents (and staff!!). I think a piano is a great addition to any dementia unit.

I worked a similar wing...should have been locked but families didn't want them locked up; anyway it was painted a soft, light blue which was calming. Confused and agitated residents from other wings would find their way there and be very calm. Also make sure floor is all one color since depth perception changes with dementia. And no mirrored anything !! I agree about the piano. Had a similar experience.

The dementia unit I used to work on was decorated by all of us that were staffing it. We went to the used/thrift store and found old forgotten items to attach to the walls such as...... wooden oars and fishing tackle for one wall, old cans for dry goods that were around in the 40-50's, many differnt nostalgic items. We also set-up a kitchen area for the ladies so they could continue their "skills". One of the sad things that happens to many of those with dementia is they losetheir appetite... we solved this by baking bread daily in a postable bread mixeer/oven. The aroma increased the appetites greatly.

Thank you all for the replies and great ideas!! keep em coming!!

The nurses station is the "traditional" type. We are actually going to rip it out and move our nurses station into a small room. Probably 15' x 15'.

A facility where I took clinicals had the most beautiful locked unit. Everything about it looked, smelled, and sounded like "home". The whole unit had laminate flooring, colored walls, wallpaper, etc. The pt rooms looked like a bedroom. The privacy curtains were more like curtains in a home, different patterns/colors. The main color theme was a medium muted blue and salmon. They had several lg fish tanks, (protected in a nice wood frame, of course!). My favorite part of the unit was the shadowboxes that hung at each door, filled with memories brought by the families. It was neat for us to look at them and see what the pt life was like ago.

Our facility has a beautiful mural painted on the walls, its a calm field of flowers with animals in it. If I have an agitated person, we can walk over and start talking about the mural and the pretty flower or the sunset or the horses and it helps calm them down.

We made activity boards: boards that had zippers, faucets, cloth that could be buttoned and unbuttoned, and so on. We had a toy bin with dolls, plastic trucks, toy iron and ironing board, toy brooms, vacuum cleaner, play tea sets, and dishes, toy cell phones and toy landline phones.

Both the boardsd and the toys were used frequently. Oh! We also had LOTS of play money.

We also brought in bright, colorful mobiles that we hung from the ceiling. The overall effect was cheerful and the residents used the toys and activity boards a LOT!

They do like dolls. They treat them like real babies. Also the Furreal Cats are very effective.

I like the activity board idea. I have seen this done on a wall and it provided hours of activity.

Thanks for your great ideas!