St Clare Hospice have received a grant of £7,150 to enable the Hospice to develop a new project aimed at improving end of life care for people with dementia living in West Essex and the borders of East Hertfordshire.
‘Namaste’ is a holistic approach to caring for people with advanced dementia and is proven to improve engagement through personalised activities that stimulate the senses; that soothe, relax, lessen agitation, and help create a connection. Namaste challenges the misconception that people with dementia are ‘in a shell’ and unable to communicate.
Building on the success of an initial pilot, St Clare Hospice plan to develop a dedicated and permanent Namaste training programme, through which they will train and support carers, both paid and unpaid, giving them the tools they need to practise Namaste effectively. They will also run facilitated ‘Namaste networks’ for carers, providing a self-supportive forum, so that carers can continue to gain from each other’s experiences and encouragement.
A spokesperson from St Clare Hospice says: “We are so grateful to the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust for their generous support of this important new project. Our experience bears out the findings of numerous national & local studies that show people living with advanced dementia are not accessing the care & support they need at end of life and many carers feel completely lost and ill equipped to know how to care for their loved ones. This project will improve the quality of life and end of life, for people with dementia and crucially provide much needed support for those who care for them.”