We learn something each and every day from our Residents

Our Residents often participate in our search for answers to create a more dementia-friendly environment at the Devonshire. We try to apply global research on environment, design, decor, colours, and wayfinding to create a safer and more intuitive environment for our Residents. Before applying the research findings we do test them out with our Residents to make absolutely sure they will be appropriate and will make a difference.

Ageing and the progression of dementia create many challenges for our Residents. We learn a lot every single day by observing how they navigate and manage their environment and by listening to what they say. We saw that at every door threshold one of our male Residents would hesitate and then take a huge step through the door. We learned that the changes in tone on the floor affected his perception of depth; he was seeing a step or a big hole depending on the floor covering. Sandra searched worldwide to find threshold strips in the same colour tone as the flooring.

We realised one of our Residents kept walking past her room and getting lost because the sign with her door number, name and photo was too high for her to see, as she uses a walker. Simple changes make big differences!

Recently we noticed that a couple of Residents were having difficulty recognising our signature colour blue doors for all community toilets. Ageing causes changes in the visual perception of blue and green tones; the progression of dementia creates changes in their interpretation. With the help of our Residents we have discovered a better signature colour which will show a more pronounced tonal difference. A much larger toilet diagram was much more popular with Residents. They told us they need the same visual cue in their bedrooms because they often forget they have a toilet.

Our experiments and research continue with the participation of our Residents to create a safer and more intuitive environment for them to live in. We do try to make it fun. Last month Sandra was trying to see how to make the lift doors on each floor more familiar. She used vintage photographs of lifts which delighted many of the Residents participating and brought back lots of fond memories.

Eileen said some of the lift doors look very posh like hotels and they look like proper lift doors. Barbara said one of the doors looks like a prison door.

Florence said that she saw so many of these doors in the hotels that she used to stay at when she travelled.