We experience the world around us through our senses – through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. But people living with dementia can sometimes have difficulty interpreting the information coming to them through their senses because their sensory function may have deteriorated. Sensory therapy involves carers activating one or more of a person’s senses, whether it be taste, smell, sight, sound or touch. It has been shown to improve the emotional and physical wellbeing of people living with dementia. Sensory therapy can also help aged care staff develop a closer bond with the care recipient and help them develop a …

Moving into an aged care facility can be a daunting experience. The person has to cope with a new environment in an aged care facility. They are no longer surrounded by the familiarity and comforts of home, and they have busy, unfamiliar people all around them. It’s not hard to understand they may feel overwhelmed and upset. Moving into aged care also often coincides with the loss of ability or poor health, which can make the move even more trying. But the move into aged care also has its positives. The resident will be able to receive around-the-clock care, medical …

Aged care Mornington Peninsula provider Autumn Aged Care says falls are a serious problem for older people, and their prevention is a key focus in all types of care at Autumn Aged Care. Around 30 per cent of adults over the age of 65 experience at least one fall per year. With Australia’s ageing population, that rate is only likely to go higher. Up to 32 per cent of older people who fall will suffer a fracture, but falls can also result in decreased independence, functional decline, anxiety, and even death A fall is often the incident that precipitates an …

Fitness and wellness is an important cornerstone in the life of Pam Hulley, the wound nurse at Autumn Aged Care’s Clovelly Cottage. Pam’s journey into fitness began in 2016 when she gave up smoking after more than 20 years of being a smoker. Pam took the challenge by the horns. At first, she started walking regularly to gradually increase her fitness. From that point, Pam got serious and began working out with dance aerobics and aerobic swimming. Pam’s fitness goals were well timed – they coincided with the launch of the staff wellness program at Autumn Aged Care. Pam accessed …

Diversional therapists play a crucial role in offering quality of care in aged care facilities – more than you may realise. While diversional therapists are responsible for the residents’ daily leisure and lifestyle activities, they also liaise with family and relatives, setting up meetings, providing individual resident support, and helping to create care plans and documentation. On top of all this, a close engagement and experience with residents, often over a long period of time, makes them an important source of information for other members of the aged care team. Many diversional therapists begin with a nursing background, which is …

One of the first lessons new recruits to aged care should learn is how to approach the aged care resident. In our day-to-day lives outside of aged care, this is not something many of us give much thought to. But in aged care, how the residents are approached requires sensitivity and thought. The health conditions many residents live with, such as dementia, can cause some residents to become easily surprised or alarmed. They may feel more easily threatened, or they may have compromised spatial awareness. It may be easy to startle a resident if they are not wearing their hearing …

When it comes to nutrition, elderly people are in an extremely unique situation when compared to other age demographics. The majority of our lives are spent making daily choices in regards to food and health, with the viewpoint that the quality of our decisions will have a direct outcome on our overall well being in the future. Whereas old age is the living breathing culmination of a lifetime’s worth of nutritional choices and an unforgiving exposé of the manner in which you chose to live your life. There are a number of myths surrounding those in the elderly age bracket, …

Grief can be a complicated and challenging journey. For those that have gone through periods of grief, many describe that they have felt lost in a sea of it. It is vitally important that when speaking about grief and its complexities that the utmost kindness, gentleness and tact be used. If you are currently experiencing grief we want to acknowledge it, we want you to know that you are cared for, thought of, and while we don’t know where you are in your journey, we want to be alongside you for it. Experts from the whole spectrum of psychological study …

Parkinson’s disease is a condition that continues to challenge thousands of Australians every year. Many have spoken of the challenging consequences of the tremors they experience, desperate for relief. While a cure for Parkinson’s is still being researched, an exciting new development has started to be rolled out at Royal Melbourne Hospital. A newly improved surgical technique is having wondrous results for many who have craved reprieve for years. Deep Brain Stimulation Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a neurological therapy and surgery operated on the brain. While the technique is not new, having been used for the last two decades, …

Why Empathy Is Important In Life And Care The world has seen and experienced inexplicably dark times. These dark times have happened across continents, people groups and periods in history. One feature arguably unites every instance and that is the utter breakdown in empathy. Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Empathy has long been a crucial element of humanity. Countless scientists, academics, authors, creatives and professionals across every discipline have sought to understand what makes us humans tick and what helps us live our best lives. Dr Helen Riess of the Empathy …