By Kevin Burke, Director of Care Homes and Dementia Services at Guild Care

A recent article in The Guardian revealed that more than 700,000 people in the UK are caring for a relative living with dementia. However, many of these caregivers are struggling to manage their loved one’s care needs.

Caring for someone with dementia comes with exceptional challenges. As symptoms progress, a person’s behaviour may change and they will often require more support. If you’re a full-time caregiver it can be hard to find time for yourself.

You don’t have to experience this alone, though. There are many services providing guidance and support. As Worthing’s leading social care charity, we assist people living with dementia through our care homes and day care services – where we adapt to deliver the right level of care as needs change, offering stability, peace of mind and a forever home for all.

Dedicated dementia care at Haviland House

Our care homes benefit from market leading staffing levels. Our teams have more time to care, so everyone experiences quality one-to-one time. This person-centred approach is always delivered with compassion, skill and expertise.

Haviland House is our purpose-built dementia care home with five unique ‘households’ – each of which is designed to support residents living with different stages of dementia. We also offer a variety of day care services within the home, providing a safe and supportive environment where families and loved ones can come together for dementia-friendly activities and social events.

These include Sunday lunches, afternoon teas and a variety of evening entertainment - giving caregivers an opportunity to recharge their batteries while ensuring their loved ones remain safe.

The wife of one of our day care service users told us: “I think it’s amazing and life saving for carers. It enables me to be me, and not worry all the time.”

Comforting surroundings at Linfield House

Similarly, Linfield House prides itself on being able to adapt care as needs change. With residential, nursing and dementia care, our residents don’t have to leave the familiarity and comfort of their surroundings or the friends they’ve made, as their condition alters.
As the son of a resident at Linfield House says, “My mum is genuinely loved here. Her needs are always put first and communication with us is excellent. Any changes in her needs are reported immediately.”

Activities pivotal to our residents’ wellbeing

We understand the importance of keeping our residents active and engaged, both physically and mentally, across all our services. Haviland House’s indoor garden-themed lounge is a perfect place to hold activities year-round. When the weather warms up, our residents enjoy sitting outside in our beautiful garden and sensory summerhouse, as well as visiting the ice cream kiosk.

In all our care homes, our wellbeing team create a varied and engaging weekly schedule of activities to help our residents live well, enjoy life and love every day. These range from gentle exercise classes such as chair yoga or Drum Fit to live entertainment and arts and crafts sessions.

Our residents are at the heart of everything we do, so it’s important for us to create a home from home and an environment where everyone feels safe, cared for and loved.

Linfield House is hosting a free ‘Planning and funding care’ event on Friday 6th October with Tom Scott of Worthing Care Advice Service from 11am – 1pm. Please contact [email protected] or call 01903 327327 to register for the event, or to find out more about our homes.