Ivy House is opening a hotel, with a difference! It’s different because it is just for people with dementia and their loved ones.
Anyone caring for someone with dementia needs regular breaks or they will reach a crisis point.
It can be a stressful decision to place someone who is used to a home environment (with family care) to a residential care home with processes and strangers. An unfamiliar environment can bring another set of problems for the family to cope with whilst they are meant to be having a break! It is also almost impossible to find residential care that is right for the individual, affordable and available!
At Ivy, we believe the ideal situation is for the person with dementia to stay in their home environment, or an environment that they are used to with familiar faces, which is why we currently provide respite care. This is where one of our companion team will stay with the person in their home, allowing the carer to take a break, which we have found is extremely successful.
The Ivy Hotel will allow us to provide respite and support to a larger number of families than we currently do. Couples can stay together and have a break from their home environment and individuals can stay, for just one night or 6 weeks! It is about being as flexible as we can. Finding respite for someone who has dementia in their 50’s is tricky as residential care is simply not appropriate. The Ivy Hotel will allow us to provide another opportunity which doesn’t involve residential care.
The Hotel is exclusively available to Ivy House clients and so there will always be a familiar face at the Hotel, whether that is friends they have made at Ivy or the companion team that will provide care. The care will be tailored to each individual and their stage of dementia – it has to be about their needs and has to be as flexible as possible for it to work successfully.
Envisage Ivy House but with bedrooms! It is important that the hotel doesn’t resemble in any way a residential care home and mimics as much as possible the gentle life at home that you have created.
No day will be the same at the Hotel, much like Ivy House, and there will be an activities programme available during the day tailored to our guest’s interests.
It is important that guests have the opportunity to leave the hotel each day should they wish and companions will be available to support their excursion should they be needed. There will also be opportunities for guests to be transported from the hotel to Ivy House to enjoy a session there should they wish.
See you soon!