Dementia Care

Dementia covers a range of symptoms, which can include confusion, memory loss, delusion and difficulties with communication. It is not a disease, rather a set of symptoms accompanying conditions that affect the brain, the most common of which is Alzheimer’s, followed by vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia.

Dementia is progressive and will affect each person in a different way. A person living with dementia may find it difficult to concentrate, become easily anxious, upset or withdrawn or feel overwhelmed when it comes to making choices. Dementia can create problems with co-ordination and orientation, visual blind spots and perception such as judging spaces and distances.

A person living with dementia may require a residential care home or a nursing home when it is no longer safe for them to remain at home. If they have a clinical need such as a pressure sore, catheter, tube feeding or some specialist medication, e.g., for diabetes, then typically they will need a nursing home.

While all Forest Care homes can accommodate residents with early dementia (including Rowan Lodge, our care home in Hampshire), Holly Lodge is our award-winning purpose-built specialist dementia care home in Surrey, offering both residential dementia care and nursing dementia care, and welcoming residents with different conditions and stages of dementia.

Holly Lodge uses contemporary design to create calming, homely and stimulating environments, with colourful digital wallpapers of familiar destinations, such as a post office, café or garden shed for reminiscence therapy, and soft furnishing of varying textures to allow residents to easily distinguish between items. Little touches such as memory boxes filled with photos and memorabilia are a talking point and orientation aid enabling residents to easily find their bedrooms.

Our dedicated activity teams organise a variety of multi-sensory group and one-to-one activities and experiences to help improve concentration, communication, encourage reminiscence and social interaction. These include ‘Guess the scent’ games, baking and gardening with different aromas and textures, colourful and textural arts & crafts, Pets as Therapy visits, incorporating themed props into music sessions and cultural events, and textured balls during exercises. Interactive touch-screen activity tables offer light projected and visually stimulating games on a larger scale and the opportunity to explore hometowns via Google Maps.

At Forest Care, we involve families in care and activity planning and use life story work to shape the way we engage with our residents in an interesting and meaningful way. A personal understanding of what really matters to each resident, the things they enjoy, their life histories, family and friends, their achievements, all helps to create a reassuring and stimulating environment.

Our compassionate, experienced and dementia care trained teams provide 24/7 support for your loved ones at every stage of their dementia journey, filling their days with activities that bring joy and provide a sense of purpose and achievement.

We are always here for families.