Jewish Care

Jewish Care aims to offer the best care possible to its clients and their families. The Dementia Care Development Team trains staff and volunteers on the best ways to care for people with all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's.

The project looks at all aspects of dementia care and promotes person-centred care, which means looking at the life, personality, interests, history and likes/dislikes of a client who has dementia, rather than seeing them purely through their condition.

We train staff and volunteers across Jewish Care resources with a course called 'Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow', created at the Alzheimer's Society.

Following on from that course, we have developed training which we offer to all Jewish Care homes and resources to build on the skills of our staff. This training can include:

• looking at particular issues surrounding food for people with dementia
• looking at the environment and how it can be adapted to empower people with dementia
• signage and how we use signs
• building design and furnishings
• how activities can help in the care of a person with dementia
• the importance of learning a client's life history
• care planning
• communication skills
• building relationships
• conferences on dementia care. 

Our development team works with staff to develop reflective practice, where they can look at the care they're offering, discuss issues and adapt their strategies and care to suit. We also look at how their work and the care environment impacts on them as people.

We are also involved in dementia care mapping, which is a process of observing people with dementia for several hours and using these observations of mood, activity and interaction to help develop care plans.