VIDEO: Special dementia room opens at Blackpool care home thanks to three years of generous fund-raising

Pennystone Court, on Handsworth Road, opened its new wellbeing room on Friday.

The room, which includes relaxing mood lighting, old-fashioned furniture and a cosy fireplace, was paid for with £4,000 of donations gathered over three years from generous members of the public.

Care home manager Lisa Robbins said: “I’m extremely proud. It shows you that anything is possible if you have got the determination and passion to see something through to the very end, and I love to see the smiles it brings to the residents’ faces. It’s really heart-warming for me and the staff to see that come together.

“We have got Chesterfield chairs, which are old-fashioned chairs residents may rmemebr from their own homes. It’s for a floor to ceiling bookshelf and it has all the old books, from Charles Dickens to Sherlock Holmes.

“When residents are feeling frustrated for any reason, they can come to that room with its old comforts and calm down.

“It allows them to remember the old days, when they were children. One woman picked up the old phone and said her grandmother used to have one, and her daughter said to me that she had never heard that story before, and she found that very, very precious.

“It’s quite emotional to be honest. Hearing from families that it has sparked a memory that they have never heard before is exceptional.”

The new room was officially opened by the Mayor of Blackpool, coun Amy Cross, and the event was attended by Blackpool north and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard.

Lisa said: “We have been trialling the room over the past fortnight just with one or two people at a time to try and monitor the impact, and the effect has been very positive.”

WHO SUFFERS FROM DEMENTIA?

Approximately 850,000 people in the UK are currently living with dementia, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The charity estimates that 1m UK residents will have dementia by 2025 - and this will increase to 2m by 2050.

The progressive syndrome, which is characterised by memory loss and problems with thinking and speakings, is more prevalent in women than men. Approximately 65 per cent of sufferers are female.

Deaths due to dementia have more than doubled in the last 10 years for people over the age of 75 - from 40,253 in 2007 to 87,199 in 2017.