Stow Healthcare has been celebrating the opening of a specialist memory care centre at its award-winning home in Brandon Park. The Maple Memory Centre is a new concept in memory care that supports independence and takes away the ‘clinical’ feel of a care home, that can cause anxiety in those living with memory loss.
At a virtual opening ceremony, with a keynote speech from Professor Martin Green, the CEO of Care England, Stow Healthcare showcased its latest addition, providing an insight to the innovative design that supports people living with memory loss, focusing on getting lighting, space and even colour design right to support people to live safely. Using Montessori principles for memory care, the centre employs staff who are known as Homemakers who support the family members living in the centre to carry on enjoying the activities they have always done, such as cooking and ironing, but with support. The centre is proving popular, with a number of the 25 available rooms already occupied.
Operations Director Ruth French said of the opening: “We are delighted to see the hard work that has gone into developing our vision of the Maple Memory Centre becoming a reality. We are delighted by the interest shown in the centre by people who can see the benefits of this type of memory care. It really challenges perceptions about what people living with memory loss are capable of. We look forward to taking this vision forward across other sites in the future.”
Guests at the ceremony included GPs from local surgeries, representatives from the local authority and other local businesses, as well as those living and working in the Memory Centre.
Professor Martin Green, CEO of Care England commented: “I’m particularly impressed with the philosophy behind the new Maple Memory Centre. I really like the way in which Stow Healthcare is focusing on the individual and maintaining their life, and I think that is a critical thing. Stow Healthcare is focusing on maintaining a sense of self-identity, and engaging residents in ways that help them to maintain their autonomy, choice and independence, and after all, that is what we all need. One of the things that I think is an underpinning philosophy at the Maple Memory Centre is that Stow HealthCare’s focus is about giving people a life, and not just a service”.
