A vintage team room has opened its doors on Tuesday in Edinburgh House, a care home in Cosham specialising in dementia care.
Residents, Councillors and council staff all came together yesterday to celebrate the launch, with tea, homemade cake and vintage charm galore.
The new café is about more than tea and cake, it’s also designed to help people with dementia. Alongside other initiatives like story telling sessions and memory boxes, the retro decoration also stimulates the senses of people living with dementia.
“This fantastic new tea room is our way of bringing a little more home comfort into our care homes” said Marie Edwards, senior manager for residential units at Portsmouth City Council.
“As well as providing a special place for residents to meet their loved ones and spend time together, it will also improve well-being. We already provide people with safe and dignified care – but we want them to feel at home here too.
“Research shows that small changes like having a chat make a huge difference. In our own residential homes we have witnessed the power of reminiscence, which can contribute positively to well-being in a residential setting and can decrease feelings of isolation and depression.
“The name itself actually came from a reminiscence session. One resident told the story of his local café where he was a regular customer and the waitress would always say ‘one lump of sugar or two?’ Other residents remembered when you only had sugar lumps – and the name just stuck!”
“This is part of a wider project that’s looking to transform the way we think about social care in the city” says Cllr. Luke Stubbs, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care.
“We’re inviting people from across our city to see how they can make a difference in their local community. It’s about finding ways to bring people from all walks of life together.
“We’re also working to bring more specialist accommodation for people with complex needs into the city and are going to trial a range of schemes in the community to help people stay well at home for longer.”
The café will be open to residents, staff and visitors. The cakes and sweet treats on offer have been donated from a council bake-off, but the care home is also looking to secure corporate sponsors to ensure the future of the tea room.
The council is working closely with Portsmouth Together to recruit volunteers to support with enrichment activities in care homes around the city. To find out more, call Portsmouth Together on 023 9284 1280.
