Care home staff build replica village in Suffolk for dementia sufferers
A replica village, complete with shops, a post office and a village green, has been built to help dementia sufferers help bring some of their memories.
The village green with replica shops is at Baylham Care Centre between Ipswich and Needham Market, in Suffolk. Staff have also left half-finished tasks around the centre to help residents who suffer from dementia Credit: SWNS
The village boasts a butcher’s, bakery, greengrocer’s, sweet shop, haberdashery and post office, all designed to look like shops from the 1950s – when many of the residents were young adults.
Manager Sandie Oxborrow said reminiscing about the past was important when dealing with dementia. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said:
The village gives the residents the ability to have a normal life with meaningful engagements rather than just activities which fill in time.
It’s important for them to be busy and have a purpose.
‘Often they say, “I need to go to the shops”, so we created the shopping village.
In the middle of the village we have created a park where we have planted some flowers and bushes so people feel like they’ve gone to the park to feed the ducks.
The care centre’s aim was to establish a familiar village green setting that many patients could relate to.
