Activities help residents to recover lost skills

21/07/2010

People with dementia in Belong Macclesfield are actually improving their memory thanks to a number of gym routines, after allocating support worker Barbara Tait to create personal programmes for some of the residents.

Residents and their families have been delighted to discover that the new activities introduced at Belong Macclesfield are leading to a number of mental health benefits, including better memory.

With the help of all the support workers, nurses and physiotherapists – and with the enthusiastic participation of residents – the project is delivering excellent results.

“We are having wonderful feedback from the residents and their families who can see the results for themselves”, said Barbara.

“One resident was advised by his doctor to pursue some supervised cardio work in the gym along with a strength programme. His exercise heart rate has dropped from 104 to 84, which is fantastic.

“But perhaps even more importantly, his strength, balance and co-ordination have all improved and he says he feels happier and more alert.

“One lady lost strength after a period of illness, something which is common for people with dementia. With the help of an occupational therapist and a gym program this lady is now back to her full strength. She is able to get in and out of chairs with no help and we are currently working on getting her strong enough to walk up a flight of stairs.

“Her family are extremely happy as they have seen a big difference in her mental and physical attitude. She says she is glad she is not so much of a burden on others now”.

Barbara points out that there is a lot of medical research pointing to the benefits of physical activity on the mental processes relating to perception, memory, judgement and reasoning.

“But it is great to see the theory turned into successful practice. The gym work gives independence back to the elderly which in turn sets off a chain of positive mental and physical events”, she adds.

“We are getting such good results because these skills and mental abilities were lying dormant and these programmes are reviving them”.

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