Moorehall Lodge in Ardee, Co Louth, is the first nursing home in Ireland to adapt a new and successful approach to dementia care that could have profound implications for future elder care in Ireland.
Moorehall Lodge is typical of a new kind of care facility, one in which the goal of care is to create an environment that more closely resembles a home, not a hospital.
The staff don’t wear uniforms, the residents have an equal say in what goes on there, and there is a strong emphasis on treating people with dementia as people first.
At first glance the communal areas can seem chaotic – instead of clinical order, visitors are confronted with rummage boxes, domestic items, musical instruments, work items from residents’ past careers and more.
But amid the chaos there is a rational approach to caring for people with dementia that is meeting with significant success, with happy residents, staff and families.
Termed the Butterfly Approach, it is based on the belief that people with dementia are primarily emotional rather than thinking-based and, as a result, nurses and carers needs to learn a new way of relating to them.
The approach has been pioneered by David Sheard of British-based Dementia Care Matters, and integrated by Michael McCoy of Moorehall Lodge, Ardee.
Michael McCoy is available for interview on the success of the Butterfly Programme, and its implications for dementia care in the country.
For further information contact:
Michael McCoy, Moorehall Lodge, 086 232 3666 / 041 685 6990
Darren Hughes, MediaConsult, 086 293 7037