Interior design
I visited, not one was aware of recommended LRV (light reflective value) differentials, or of the benefits of limited glare in relation to macular degeneration or dementia. What they did know a great deal about was how to care sensitively for many vulnerable people with a very low staff-to-resident ratio. The buildings are designed to enable
minimal staff intervention and maximise the physical and emotional interaction between residents. These facilities are brimming with life and vitality and yet people with diminishing vision would have difficulty finding a handrail. Surely there are lessons we can learn
from one another if there were a central, translatable hub for sharing this information? In Australia, retirement operators
provide a great deal of information on downsizing to assist people in committing to a simpler lifestyle in older years. Some of these communities are designed around golf courses or lawn
bowling, enabling people with similar interests to engage with one another on a day-to-day basis. In the Netherlands, the now famous
Hodgweyk dementia village challenged the idea of a care community. It allows residents and their families to pick from one of seven room types to fit personality and private interests with themes such as homey, urban, Christian and artisan. The design of the site allows
vulnerable residents to travel freely to on-site shops, etc. without being confined in communal lounges or other ring-fenced spaces. This initiative opened in 2009 and was so groundbreaking that they still receive an abundance of tour requests, so many that they need to decline many requests 12 years later! The Netherlands also specialises in
affordable housing for seniors and people with special needs. Like other countries they have developed unique
approaches which have been studied, but which have proved challenging to share in detail globally. While some care facilities in the
United States are still based largely on an outdated hospital model, there are still benefits to physical therapy, hydrotherapy and other physical treatments being front and centre of the resident experience, rather than as an occasional offering with a hair salon being positioned as the critical offer. This is more of a health and wellbeing
approach and to date there has been no way to easily share best practice experience from the US in the UK or for operators in other countries to share with each other. A central information hub provides this opportunity.
Time poor Back in the day, the fax machine, and then the internet, was touted a critical way to save time in the workplace. The effect has been quite the opposite and many articles have already been written on this topic, but the one related point I will make is that it is extremely rare to meet anyone in the industry with much spare time on their hands. Magazines like this one do a great job
of providing a snapshot of the industry at any one time in an easily accessible form. However, except for conferences, we
are still missing the opportunity to delve into very specific topics in any detail, to be able to converse about them, to argue, and to agree. Having an information hub linked to a podcast for in-depth discussion within a single half- hour is a positive response to this need. Like most inquisitive people, I have
more questions than answers. What the podcast supplies is the opportunity to
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com• February 2021
©Royal Star & Garter
©Royal Star & Garter
©Royal Star & Garter
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