Bucklow Manor Care Home

Namaste Sensory Room for Cheshire Care Home

About Bucklow Manor Care Home

Newly opened care home Bucklow Manor in Cheshire provides Personal Care for those whose primary care needs are age-related. They also have a specialist unit for residents with dementia.

Bucklow Manor approach Rhino UK

In 2016 Springcare contacted Rhino UK to discuss the opportunity of having a Namaste room fitted into a new home ‘Bucklow Manor’ which was to be opened in early 2017.

The team at Rhino UK worked closely with the newly appointed home manager, Donna, to discuss Bucklow Manor’s requirements and make sure the room was an exact fit for the residents’ needs.

Donna is highly passionate about Namaste Care. With over 30 years experience in the care industry, she has seen the amazing results this kind of therapy can create and knew exactly what she wanted to achieve.

Donna spoke about a resident she previously cared for who had not spoken for years. After a few Namaste therapy, sessions, an amazing thing happened, she started to open up and talk to her.

What is Namaste Care?

It is important that we help people living with advanced Dementia live and not just exist. Keeping a person clean, fed and groomed is not living, it’s merely existing. People need to be engaged in meaningful activities and feel wanted, loved and part of a community.

In recent years a lot of research has gone into this subject, and you may have come across the term Namaste Care. Namaste Care is a program designed to improve the quality of life for people with advanced Dementia. Namaste is a Hindu term meaning “to honour the spirit within” and was selected for this program as the main purpose is to bring honour to people who can no longer tell us who they are or take care of themselves without assistance. Namaste involves one-to-one care during daily sessions in a comfortable, communal space with gentle stimulation of the senses.

Bucklow Manor’s Namaste Room

Bucklow Manor was lucky to have a large space available to create their Namaste Room, which meant they could have a wide variety of sensory and therapy solutions to enhance their therapeutic opportunities.

When you walk into the room, you are hit by the beautiful aromas coming from the Aroma fan, which has four different scents to choose from.

The centre of the room has comfortable chairs for the residents to sit and relax whilst taking in the beautiful surroundings. Dolls to represent children are placed around the room for residents to interact with; the dolls resonate with them to help them feel comfortable and at ease.

One wall displays an array of tactile panels to encourage residents to touch and feel different textures. Another wall is covered in colour coming from the sunny Solar LED projector, that comes with a variety of themed wheels to suit residents interests. A stunning fibre optic waterfall falls alongside this giving an amazing visual effect whilst also providing tactile exploration.

A Fibre Optic Star cloth is hung in front of the room’s window, and a fibre optic ceiling ring create a stimulating twinkling ambiance.

In another corner of the room stands a colour changing hurricane column; the column gives off the impression it has water inside, but it’s actually waterless, with fan-driven beads that rise and fall inside the tube, creating a stimulating bubbling effect.

End Result

The home opened in early March, and the Namaste Room has already been a massive hit for the residents and the staff. The home has devised a Namaste Care Programme, where residents can engage in daily therapy sessions and on-to-one classs. The programme is full of meaningful activities that help bring pleasure to people with advanced dementia or those with physical or mental impairments.

Donna, the Care Home Manager, said, “There have been some very positive outcomes for residents who have participated in the Namaste Sessions:

• A reduction in falls
• A steady increase in weight as appetites have increased
• Improvements in communication skills
• Periods of anxiety and agitation have reduced

Staff involved in the Namaste sessions report that they feel a sense of achievement and are proud to be part of delivering the programme to residents in their care. They feel they are spending quality time with the residents who attend and are making a difference in people’s lives. Staff enjoy the closeness with the residents and feel they are doing a worthwhile job.

The sensory room has also become valued by families that visit the home with young children. They enjoy many hours in the sensory room with their relatives, and stress and anxiety has been reduced greatly throughout these visits.”