Indoor Village Green Central To Dementia Investment
A newly launched care home in central Bedfordshire is launching the second stage of its £800,000 refurbishment programme with a bespoke dementia unit which will include an indoor village green.
New Meppershall Care Home, near Shefford, was launched in November after being taken over by Pressbeau Group.
The initial phase saw a full refurbishment of the ground floor; a bespoke lounge created by a team of professional interior designers; a café; a hair salon; and a dining room with a restaurant-like atmosphere.
Next week, work will start on a cutting-edge dementia facility on the first floor which in time will be home to 30 residents. The space has been designed in close consultation with the requirements and standards set out by DSDC (Dementia Services Development Centre) at Stirling University which specialise in life-enhancing care for dementia patients.
Central to the unit will be an indoor village green designed to give a feel of the outdoors indoors. It will have artificial grass, a park bench and a sign post showing the way to the village amenities which will include a clothes shop, record shop and sweet shop.
The purpose of the creative design is to help both stimulate and settle dementia patients in their new environment.
Tina Flack, a trained nurse who is the manager at New Meppershall Care Home, said: “The creative design will add real value to the lives of residents with dementia. All of it has been very carefully planned out to help them recall memories and feel at home at New Meppershall. Simple daily activities like going to buy food and clothes will be re-created around the village green to give residents a real sense of normal daily life.
“While on the face of it, the unit will be pleasing to the eye with a very warm and welcoming feel, its design is very scientific in line with all the latest thinking from the Dementia Services Development Centre which are leaders in the field of dementia.”
In addition to the village square, there will be an outdoor roof garden so residents can enjoy fresh air on a daily basis all year round. For health and safety purposes, the terrace will be screened with high glass walls so residents can enjoy an unrestricted view of the gardens and lawns.
Sharad Saraogi, managing director of Pressbeau Group, said: “We were very warmly welcomed in to the community when we re-opened the home at the end of last year and we are already caring for a number of residents on the ground floor who have settled in really well to New Meppershall.
“Now that they are happy in their new home, we can look at completing the second phase of the refurbishment and delivering the complete first class nursing and dementia care facility which we have promised the local community.”
Work on the dementia unit will begin next week and is expected to be completed by the end of July.
