Page 14 - Senior Scene Queensland 2020

PAGE 14 www.seniorsbook.com.au
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 come through the door.” people with dementia,” she said. doorframe, where the door handle
in a tree, right above where the But by the time Tancred had come “To be able to look at an artwork is, the colours of the hand railing,
[door’s] keypad is.” close to to completing the sunset or a mural and and find something the floor, the style of the facility,”
Tancred said it can also change mural she was painting, the man’s in there that means something to Tancred said.
how people with dementia engage behaviour had changed. them … is really important. Tancred said exits doors can often
with a space. “He’s come out and he’s lifted his “It can prompt memories, it be a cause of distress for residents
“Usually when I’m working on-site, hand to his forehead and sort of can give a feeling of comfort or who are either waiting for family
I can see changes in behaviour and peered, as you do … then he turned happiness.” to walk through them, or not
hear responses from the residents around and happily trotted off,” she Ms McCabe said the use of bright, understanding why they cannot
about three-quarters of the way said. contrasting colours is important to exit out of them.
through,” she said. “That’s the kind of reaction that help people with dementia identify She also uses an “exit diversion”
“Once I was working at [an aged I know, ‘okay we’ve got a success objects. to create scenes that residents can
care facility] at Wellington Point, in here’.” But it does not just apply to see can but cannot walk towards.
Brisbane and a gentleman had his Dementia Australia chief paintings, it could mean using “We don’t want them to get
bedroom right out the front of the executive, Maree McCabe, said a brightly coloured plate to help stressed about wanting to go
main exit door. cognitive stimulants like murals foods stand out, or a coloured door there,” she said.
“He used to guard this door rather and artworks can help to prompt or toilet seat. That might mean painting a
angrily. memory. Alleviating distress through scene that looks of out a window
“He’d get upset at anyone who was “We all have favourite colours, we exit diversion or something beyond a waist-high
standing in the space … because he have colours that we love and that brick wall.
was always waiting for his family to can provide a feeling of comfort for When it comes to deciding what to As well as murals, Tancred has
paint, the architecture of the space created bright, reusable door
and behaviourism of residents all wraps to help residents find their
have to be taken into account. way through the facility.
“The mural has to fit within the

Artist Sharron Tancred paints
murals designed to engage
people with dementia.

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