Visiting Bay Tree Resource Centre

It was the pinnacle point in what I was doing, is to gain first hand account on the world of dementia in person. Going to the place where they look after the demented and caring for them 24/7.  It was a hard line to gain access to as I wanted to get the feel on what is like to look after these people. Talking to the clients, families and staff was a important step in helping me in designing my building. Examining the building which is specially designed for them was a key essential to find whats good and is there were any faults to it.

natalie and bella

I spent the entire day at the centre, from 10 o'clock to 5pm. This is the time where family and friends come and go to collect their love ones. The first thing I did was to talk to the clients, on how they are, whats they name and saying who I was. The clients were all over 65+, it was mostly female it must say something on this diesease mostly hinder the women population. They were range from minor to severe demented where some forgotten you in seconds.
Speaking to the staff, about the diesease had help me to understand what kind of form it is. I thought to myself how ignorant I was, when I left. However the most vital infomation that gain was that dementia is still a quiet subject but the disease is speading fast. As by 2080, nearly 2 million people in the UK will have it. Costing the government over 50 billion pounds annually to support this crisis.
The staff members mention the dislikes about the certain aspects of the building, such as the staff room is upstairs and should be downstairs. Therefore hardly any of them use the staff room. Theres not enough light in the building. Which they really prefer natural lighting than artificial lighting.
Next door was a demented care home, where the client live there 24/7. It contains community centres, shops, gardens, hair salon, staff offices and a kitchen with a dining hall facing it.
Coming to the place has helped me to figure out on how to design my building and what spaces should go in it. The building should offer to all levels of demented people, without discriminating the weakest ones. In the end I was glad that I came and visited the place. Not only I gain unprecedent amount of information and knowledge but it has change me as a person about dementia. How it is a life changing, things are no longer the same. Family who put their love ones here for a couple of hours. Help them to releive themseleves from the stress and sorrow, even it only for a short while. But a short while brings them back who they once was.
I recommend to anyone to gain some work experiance in a dementia care centre for a day.