Memory support for Queenslanders

A Queensland ‘memory support’ program values the client’s personality and need for “comfort” and “connection” as they age with dementia.

Blue Care’s Tailor Made Service Model – launched in May this year – was developed to guide and shape the organisation’s services through a person centred model of care.

The new model identified that a program was needed to ensure those Blue Care clients living with dementia received consistent and effective care across the organisation’s 260 centres in Queensland and northern New South Wales.

The program gives staff permission to move away from a task orientated culture to a person-centred culture.

For the past year, Blue Care memory support advisor, Denise Edwards, has been developing a document that will provide staff across all disciplines with a platform to deliver the best quality memory support services.

“The program has been developed in consultation with staff, volunteers, residents, and clients and their families, key dementia experts and organisations. A literature review, evidence-based practice and findings from research have also informed the work,” Ms Edwards tells DPS News.

Blue Care’s Tailor Made model of care is “all about the person coming first”.

“It is at the centre of all we do, where each individual’s uniqueness is appreciated. Blue Care staff work in partnership with the person and their family and friends, to deliver services in such a way that the person is in control rather than being controlled,” she says.

The aims and objectives of the Blue Care Tailor Made Memory Support Services Program are to enable the person living with dementia:

• To be seen as a person in their own right first, before their dementia
• To be empowered and treated as an equal partner, achieving everything that is possible as a valued member of society
• To be as independent as possible
• To make choices about all aspects of their life that they are able to
• To be recognised for their uniqueness, skills and achievements, retaining their diversity and dignity
• To receive excellent health care, healthy living programs and to remain as free as possible from unnecessary suffering.

“The program is really about knowing the individual – not just addressing the needs of their condition, which is why Blue Care uses the terminology ‘memory support’ rather than ‘dementia’. This helps to break down the stigma often associated with the word dementia – emphasising a more positive approach to support,” Ms Edwards says.