Focus on: Reminiscence Resources

This month is World Alzheimer’s month and in the library we have a variety of resources which can be borrowed by trust staff members to support people living with dementia.

There are three Reminiscence boxes which contain tactile items which can help people to remember happy moments in their life and give them something to talk about.

Handling the objects is a good way of stimulating conversation and engaging with the person.  There are also laminated cards with pictures and facts to further discussion. The boxes are easy to transport, having a long handle and wheels.

We have worked together with Wakefield public library, initially loaning boxes from them prior to us producing our own using kind donations.

We have an entertainment and leisure box which has familiar objects from family life such as toys, records, books and old money.  They evoke  strong memories from different time periods.  For me it was the 70’s and 80’s,  I particularly remember trying and failing to master the Rubix cube.

We are very fortunate to have objects in the mining box from the National Coal Mining Museum for England.  This box has proved to be very popular with former miners, you can still smell the coal dust on the objects.  People living with dementia can interact with the objects, wearing the helmet and handling the soap, which also has a distinctive smell.

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Focus On: Pictures to Share Books

As part of our ongoing partnership work with the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Dementia Team we have recently added a selection of Pictures to Share books to stock at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Staff Library.

Pictures to Share books are designed to be accessible and entertaining for anyone with mid to later stage dementia. They aim to prompt memories and enable discussion between those with dementia and their families, friends and carers. More information about the books can be found on the Pictures to Share website.

The collection may be of particular interest to our MY colleagues for use during reminiscence activities with patients.

The titles currently available from the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Staff library are:

• A Sporting Life in Pictures
• A World of Work in Pictures
• Childhood Days in Pictures
• Family Life in Pictures
• A Funny Old World in Pictures (2nd ed)
• In the Garden in Pictures
• Pets in Pictures
• Shopping in Pictures
• Travelling in Pictures
• Beside the Seaside in Pictures

Please feel free to pop in for a closer look at the books, which are currently on display in the staff library alongside our other dementia resources 😀

Natasha (on behalf of the library team)

Reminiscence boxes – working in partnership with Wakefield Public Libraries and MY Dementia Team

‘Person first – dementia second’

Upon hearing the success of reminiscence boxes from our colleagues in other NHS libraries we decided to check out the idea.  The boxes are used to help people living with dementia and their families to evoke happy moments from the past and stimulate communication by handling objects and looking at pictures.  Our dementia lead nurse Anita Ruckledge turned out to be very keen for us to find out more.

As luck would have it as part of our health information week activities in July 2017 we had collaborated with Wakefield Public Libraries and discovered they had a small collection of reminiscence boxes for loan at Sandal Library.  They agreed to lend us a couple to try out.

The Trust Communications Team has assisted us by putting out an appeal for kind donations of 60s memorabilia to enable us to create our own boxes – and so we wait with excitement – keep following to see what turns up!

If you have any 60s memorabilia (anything from clothing to crockery) you would like to donate please contact Anita Ruckledge, Dementia Lead Nurse, Anita.Ruckledge@midyorks.nhs.uk or call 07780954892.

The library is now a ‘Dementia Champion’ and we have added a selection of Reading Agency reccomended titles to support those living with dementia & their families/carers. Anita has reviewed some of the books from the collection and says:

“This book explores reactions from children when Grandma is forgetful. To assess the suitability of this book I read this with my 10 year old Granddaughter, who loved the book and said that she will be telling her teachers at school.”

Pop along to MY Library and check out our wonderful new resources to support those living with dementia and their families.

The MY Trust dementia team have also put together a ‘Dementia Champion Reference File’, a simple guide filled with useful explanations and help. MY Staff can access this via the Intranet & we will soon have paper copies available for loan from the library too.

Why not let us know what you think or have any other ideas to support staff and patients?

Thank you to our Trust Communications team for allowing us to use their photographs in our blog post 🙂