Belfast Care Home Opens New Unit To Care For Those Living With Dementia

A Belfast care home is opening a new service to provide specialist care for residents living with dementia.

Part of Four Seasons Health Care, Manor Lodge Care Home has been designed with interactive and memory enhancing features that tie in with the local history of the area. This includes a replica village clock and post box, as well as photos of Suffolk Square and the town.

Manor Lodge’s newly built service will provide specialised care for up to 15 people living with dementia. It is estimated that there are some 3,846 people living in Belfast with dementia and 800,000 people across the UK. Therefore there is a high demand for care services that specialise in providing this type of high quality, person-centred care.

Four Seasons Health Care’s dementia care programme identifies new ways of thinking about dementia. The programme uses a range of therapies, including reminiscence therapy, sensory rooms and music therapy. Each home providing dementia care is designed with consideration of the impact of light, colour, contrast, texture and sound to assist the residents in orientating themselves and to create a balanced sensory-stimulating environment.

Maura McIntyre, Home Manager at Manor Lodge, said: “The number of people living with dementia is projected to grow by up to 40% within the next 15 years so we’re glad that Manor Lodge will now have the facilities to provide this type of specialised care.

“By creating a stimulating and familiar environment, people living with dementia will be able to live in a safe and warm environment that feels like home for them.”