Art brings tranquillity to aged care

The impact of art and natural beauty on people with dementia is evident in the smiles on residents’ faces at a Toowoomba aged care service.

Northridge Salem’s recent fete raised more than $12,000, which provided the funding to have a wall mural (pictured) painted in the dementia wing by Susie Killen from Queensland’s Goondiwindi.

The pastel painting, which portrays women in a park carrying old fashioned parasols on a sunny day, was unveiled to coincide with National Dementia Awareness Week (21 – 28 September).

Northridge Salem director of nursing, Maxine Noone, was delighted to see residents, staff and friends of the service admiring the scene.

“The mural has brought tranquillity to the unit and calmness,” she said. “It has also given the residents an interest. Each time they study the mural they detect something new.”

The mural included items residents may have used in their younger days, such as a swing, a pram and a pet dog.

“The painting has become a great conversation piece among the residents and their families,” Ms Noone said, adding the mural and a ‘dementia garden’ had brought “immense joy” to the lives of residents.

The award winning dementia garden is filled with Toowoomba plants and is a “treat for the senses” – enticing smell through its lavender, roses, camellias and rosemary.

“A wooden gate has been placed in the garden to give the residents a sense of coming and going,” Ms Noone said.

Residents living with dementia were involved in “bringing the garden to life” by watering, sweeping paths or observing the activity.

“They tend to wander a lot so we thought why not give them a pleasant garden to wander in?”

Today 280,000 Australians live with dementia, with the figure expected to increase to more than one million by 2050.

Lutheran Community Care (LCC) director of continuous improvement and care, Kylie Congram, said its nine aged care services offer residents with dementia the respect and dignity they deserve in a “lovely home”.

“The increase in the number of residents with dementia will influence the design of our services in the future, ensuring we provide an environment that is safe and stimulating,” Ms Congram said.

LCC’s St Paul’s Lutheran Aged Care Village in Caboolture is another example of supporting residents with dementia. Splashes of rainbow colours on the doors and artwork in the dementia wing – including purple, watermelon and green – help residents find their rooms independently.