Deafness and Dementia
HammondCare has launched two new substantial booklets (each 30-40 pages) on the topic of supporting people who are living with dementia and are deaf: one is aimed at family and friends, the other is aimed at care staff.
The title for both booklets is Deafness and Dementia: Interpreting Changes In Behaviour, and both cover similar territory: introducing dementia, understanding behaviour, and communication and engagement.
The resource for family and friends includes some simple approaches in response to behaviours, as well as communication strategies. The resource for care staff includes more detailed information about communication strategies that relate to supporting a person who is deaf/Deaf, and more on activities and engagement.
The booklets provide information relevant to supporting both people who were born deaf (and may identify as being part of the Deaf community) as well as people who have lost their hearing completely later in life. The Deafness Foundation funded and reviewed the resources.
Music for Dementia
UK-based charity Music for Dementia has launched its own internet radio station, m4d Radio (available at https://m4dradio.com/), as one way to deliver on its campaign to make music available to everyone living with dementia.
The non-commercial radio station offers five different programs, each presenting music from different eras: the 1930s/’40s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and a mixed program.
Speaking is kept to a minimum, and the choice of music is linked with the time of day – from waking through to early evening, and then night-time. All are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Music for Dementia says the music has been chosen after careful focus group research, and it welcomes ongoing feedback as the station develops its programming.
