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Dementia Care

We provide personalised and compassionate care in a secure environment to ensure your loved one feels safe, supported and empowered in our community.

We offer various services to support your loved one living with dementia. These may include:

  • Specialised dementia care
  • 24/7 registered nurse
  • Secure care environments co-designed with Dementia Training Australia
  • Therapeutic activities and wellbeing programs

Industry-led dementia care you can rely on

At IRT, we’re leaders in person-centred dementia care. Our innovative Journey of Care model enables us to tailor our dementia care environments, equipment and programs to meet the unique needs of residents living with dementia.

We work hard to deliver an industry-leading approach to dementia care, ensuring you or your loved one will have the support and comfort you need.

Specialised Care Model

Our Journey of Care model is a unique and innovative way of delivering dementia care. Our residents live in 'neighbourhoods', defined needs-based areas within our aged care centres that cater for residents with similar care needs. Our 'Discovery' (dementia care) neighbourhood enables us to tailor our environment, staff, equipment and programs to meet your loved one's unique needs. Residents feel empowered and participate in daily activities that promote independence, individuality and dignity.

Resident well-being and safety

Our secure dementia care environments enhance resident well-being by reducing unhelpful stimuli, increasing helpful stimuli and making it easier for staff to ensure resident safety. We achieve this by:

• Concealing fences, exits and staff-only doors with colour schemes and decals.
• Creating internal and external spaces for residents to engage with, like walkways and faux cafes, bus stops, backyard gardens and streams.

Independent wayfinding & community connections

We use environmental design to improve resident independence and safety. Resident suites are differentiated with a picture box for personal mementos and a unique door handle and decal consistent with their family home to aid recognition. We use distinctive prompts and colours to help residents find their way ‘home’.

Dementia care environments may also include an all-ages park, outdoor recreation areas, dementia-friendly gardening equipment and decals that encourage interaction.

Specialist programs

Our specialist programs such as our 'Montessori' program support resident wellbeing and enrich their quality of life with activities such as:

• Hand-eye coordination activities that provide a sense of purpose such as folding laundry, sweeping leaves or setting the table.
• Sensory stimulation such as music, therapeutic touch, massage and aromatherapy.

Montessori activities and resident roles enable residents living with dementia to develop connections and a sense of purpose and value in their community.

Learn more about Journey of Care and how this highly specialised model of care can support your loved one living with dementia.

A neighbour when you need dementia care at arm's reach

As a community-owned residential aged care provider, we put people first. Our residents are cared for with kindness and empowered to live safe and supported lives.

Specialised care 24/7

Our caring staff and registered nurses are there 24/7 to help you manage your health, medication and daily needs. You’ll have compassionate and specialised dementia care at arm’s reach around-the clock.

Industry-led expertise

Our secure care environments and programs are codesigned with Dementia Training Australia – expertise you can rely on.

Enhanced quality of life

We provide a range of supportive programs and activities to support your loved one’s well-being and provide a sense of purpose and belonging for residents living with dementia.

Carers you can trust

All IRT employees are suitably qualified, trained and vetted for their roles. We also invest in regular staff education and training through our industry-leading IRT Academy and national leaders in dementia care.

Therapeutic activities

Learn about some of the therapeutic activities that our IRT residents living with dementia receive to help support their overall health and wellbeing.

Music therapy

Music therapy is beneficial for people with a wide range of health concerns, including people with dementia. Studies have shown it can have a positive impact on motor improvement, emotional functions and overall quality of life.

Read more

Pet therapy

Interacting with animals provides a range of therapeutic benefits such as increasing positive stimulation and decreasing loneliness and depression. A number of our aged care centres receive regular animal visits to help improve mood and reduce stress.

Read more

Art and creativity

Learn about the role of art as therapy and how we're using it in our aged care centres to support resident wellbeing, especially for those living with dementia. It can help improve cognitive functioning, self-esteem, enjoyment of life and creative thinking.

Read more

Aged care nurse with elderly woman

Purposeful activities for people living with dementia

Check our our blog The Good Life to learn more about dementia, including resources and support available, plus helpful activities for people living with dementia.

Find out more

Find an aged care centre with the support you need

We currently offer dementia care across a number of our aged care centres and are continuing to roll the program out throughout NSW, Qld and the ACT.

Our secure dementia care environments support resident wellbeing and independence whilst encouraging community connections and engagement with loved ones.

How to apply for dementia care

If your loved one can no longer live at home and needs dementia care (and residential aged care), the first step is to register with My Aged Care and get an ACAT assessment. This is the Australian Government’s aged care services portal where you can access information and apply for funding.

At IRT, we want to make the process as smooth as possible so we’ve put together a handy step-by-step guide to help you on your aged care journey.

Frequently asked questions

Dementia is the term used to define a collection of symptoms that are caused by disorders which affect the brain, and impacts the function of a person in four major areas:

  1. Cognitive ability – relates to the way people think and remember. They may struggle to remember recent events, solve problems and complete daily activities.
  2. Behaviours – experiencing delusions, hallucinations or becoming agitated, anxious, distressed and seeking reassurance from other people.
  3. Functional ability – difficulties with performing daily living skills including bathing, grooming, sleep, toileting and eating.
  4. Physical ability – pain, weight loss and changes in limb movements may be experienced as conditions progress.

Dementia describes a number of neurological conditions. Dementia is not one specific disease but rather there are over 100 different types of dementia including:

  1. Alzheimer’s disease – the most common type of dementia, it is a progressive degenerative illness that attacks the brain and causes a gradual decrease in cognitive ability such as memory and problem-solving.
  2. Vascular dementia – a disease associated with a person’s inability to circulate blood to the brain which can cause cognitive difficulties with reasoning and judgement.
  3. Frontotemporal dementia – caused by the degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes in the brain which is responsible for someone’s emotion and behaviour.
  4. Lewy body dementia – a disease that includes the presence of irregular structures in the brain which has an effect on nerve cells and brain cells which can result in difficulties concentrating and judging distances.

Aged care centres offer specialised types of care such as respite care, palliative care and dementia care. Dementia care is designed to support people who are living with dementia and it aims to improve their health, wellbeing and safety and enhance their overall quality of life.

Dementia care is provided by experienced and compassionate care workers and health professionals who are trained in caring for someone with dementia, whether it’s Alzheimer’s, Vascular Dementia or Lewy Body Dementia.

Dementia care provides targeted assistance and may include a range of strategies such as dietary changes, creating safe and supportive physical environments, therapeutic activities and meaningful activities that help provide a sense of purpose. 

IRT’s Journey of Care is a model that personalises the care experience for every resident. We recognise that every journey is unique and honour the diversity of each resident’s care needs.

Our specialised model of care ensures residents age in the right place with the right care within our aged care centres.

For example, as part of Journey of Care, we offer needs-based “neighbourhoods” within our aged care centre for residents with similar care needs, such as those living with dementia care or approaching end of life. This allows us to provide the right staff, equipment and programs for these residents. It also allows us to tailor the environment and ultimately provide a much more specialised care experience to best support your loved one.

 

Neighbourhoods are defined needs-based residential areas within our aged care centres that allow for more specialised care. This particular neighbourhood is designed for people living with dementia and focuses on discovering resident abilities, enabling them to live with independence, individuality and dignity. Residents’ lives are enhanced through best practice design of the built environment, underpinned by Dementia Training Australia’s dementia design principles. These principles help minimise confusion and uncertainty, which reduces agitation and exit seeking while increasing independence and engagement with the community.

In this neighbourhood you might see dementia design principles being used to:

  • Unobtrusively reduce risk: disguise fences or locked doors (with things such as murals or plants) to avoid frustration, agitation, anger or depression
  • Allow people to see and be seen: provide cues in the environment through signs, colour and landmarks to help residents recognise where they are
  • Manage levels of stimulation: highlight helpful stimulation through the use of sight and sound to provide sensory cues. Reduce the stimuli that is not relevant to residents (e.g. disguise staff meeting rooms, storage cupboards etc)
  • Support movement and engagement: provide clear pathways with points of activity both inside and outside
  • Create a familiar space: use furniture, fittings and colours that are familiar to residents from their early life
  • Provide a variety of places to be alone or with others: create opportunities for residents to be alone or with others through spaces such as small sitting nooks and pergolas in gardens.

This neighbourhood suits residents living with dementia who are mobile and active or require minimal assistance to move around their environment.

Our Journey of Care model is a unique and innovative way of delivering dementia care. Dementia care is tailored to the needs of the individual which means costs of care may vary depending on the level of care needed and the types of services available. In most cases it won’t affect the cost of a resident’s accommodation and care.

To find out more, fill out the enquiry form below and our friendly team will be happy to help you.

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