A visit to the hospital can give any patient an anxious feeling, and this certainly applies to people with dementia. They are often confused and sometimes forget where they are and why they are in the hospital. The Wilhelmina Hospital Assen has prepared boxes with aids for this target group, the so-called ‘dementia boxes’.
The driving force behind the approach are nurses Gerdie Boekeloo and Truus Smit. Boekeloo saw such a dementia box at the UMCG in Groningen and immediately saw the added value.
“It is nice for patients, because we can offer a little more. And it is also nice for the nurses because they have more control over keeping the patients a little calmer. To let them feel more in their place and feel safe,” says Boekeloo.
The boxes contain, for example, games to provide distraction, but also a clock that shows the day and date in addition to the time. “We also have sleeves and they have all kinds of things to fiddle with. Many people are fussy, if they have an IV and you put it over the IV, they pick at that and not the IV,” says the nurse about the special sleeves.
You will also find, for example, weighted blankets in the box, as well as nuts and bolts to tighten. And it contains a handbook for the patient’s loved ones, before anyone is faced with dementia.
“The book Spend the day with Dementia by Hanneke van der Ruimte is a book that explains very clearly what happens in the brain and what kind of behavior results from it,” Gerdie Boekeloo explains. “And we bought it for the family, but it is also very pleasant to read for nursing and assistance.”
The offer is very varied. According to Boekeloo, this is also necessary because what works well for one person can be counterproductive for another. “It is especially important that people feel safe and that is often because family is nearby. That is the most familiar thing for them.”
