At the end of 2024, Knights Care were contacted by Grace Laming, a third-year Product Design student at York St John University. Grace constructed her dissertation around the non-pharmaceutical treatments for dementia and embarked on a year-long project where she was eager to learn more about dementia and the interventions in a care home setting. We connected with Grace and have since built a special relationship supporting her in her academic research to help her gain a thorough understanding of dementia and the many ways we support our residents.
Grace’s Story:
“I chose to focus on this topic following the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in two of my Grandparents. Watching their personalities disappear as they became known as ‘a person with dementia’ was one of the most difficult parts of their worsening condition, and something I hope to have just a small impact in improving for future individuals through my work"
In the months following our initial connection with Grace, we provided the opportunity for her to understand the day to day life of residents living with dementia during scheduled visits to our homes. Grace spent time with residents, relatives, staff and management gaining the knowledge she needed in order to progress with her project. She also spent ample time with the homes' activities teams, providing her first-hand insight to and understanding of how important it is to offer a range of engaging activities to residents living with dementia on both an individual basis and in social group settings.
On one of her final visits to us, Grace introduced her project to residents, and brought along a proto-type of the dementia - friendly game she had designed. The game focuses on matching individual clothing items to create outfits of various styles. During these trial days, the aim was to encourage residents to colour / style match the pieces to create final outfits, encouraging cognitive stimulation in observing and matching, physical movement of the hands in moving pieces and promoting creativity in allowing them to also create and design outfits based on their personal preference to the individual clothing pieces provided.
Whilst trialling the game, resident Marjorie of Branthwaite Care Home shared her love for fashion and looking good, telling us about the many items she has knitted in her time and showing off her favourite cardigan.
We are thrilled that Grace has had the ability to progress through her final year project with the support of Knights Care, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with her.
