Donation is a welcome boost for dementia patients

A patchwork and quilting group in Kettering have kindly donated £300 to St Andrew’s Healthcare, to help support our patients with dementia and cognitive impairment.
 
The Kettering Quilters’ 30 members meet monthly, and have done so since 1983. Ruth Lymer, Secretary of the group, explained: “Every two years, we seek to support a charity. The proceeds are collected either by an exhibition of our work, or by a sales table at our meetings.  The past Christmas time, we held two table top sales at local Christmas Fayres to raise monies for charity.
 
“The cause for the past two years has been for Alzheimer's and Dementia work, and it was the members desire that the monies raised would go to local groups, hence the work at St Andrew's is one such charity to benefit.”
 
Last week Cathy Aziz, Senior Financial Accountant for St Andrew’s Healthcare, went along to one of the group’s meetings and accepted the kind donation on behalf of the charity. Cathy commented: “We are honoured and grateful that the Kettering Quilters chose St Andrew’s to receive a donation. We care for up to 53 men and women with dementia and cognitive impairment here in Northampton, and our ward staff work hard to ensure that our patients access specialist therapies, and encourage positive life experiences. Donations like this allow us to do even more.”
 
To find out more about the Kettering Quilters, click here. For more information about our dementia service, click here.
 

About dementia care at St Andrew’s Healthcare

At St Andrew’s in Northampton our dementia service cares for men and women with dementia and cognitive impairment. We care for patients who have experienced the criminal justice system, people with challenging behaviours and those who require palliative care.

The variety of specialist therapies we offer aim to help manage cognitive decline, reduce challenging behaviour and encourage positive life experiences for our dementia patients. We provide an individualised programme of treatment for every person in our care, and on average, our dementia patients receive 40 hours of diverse therapy a week.

Our dementia service offers:

• Therapies and stimulating activities to enhance patients’ quality of life
• Adapted environments and specialist equipment
• Access to MRI, CT neuroimaging and medical healthcare facilities
• Dedicated dysphagia kitchen, which creates delicious food for patients who have difficulty swallowing

As well as therapy, patients have the opportunity to get involved with a variety of positive, fun activities: recently, the people in our care have enjoyed a series of dance and movement sessions, and some of our patients are working with the University of Kent on a project trialling the use of virtual reality headsets.