JourneyOnline
CLIENTS OF Wesley Mission Brisbane’s Hadden Place Demen-tia Day Therapy and Respite Centre at Sinnamon Village, Brisbane, are taking advantage of a new humour therapy program thanks to $50,000 funding from the Department of Health and Ageing.
Hadden Place Program Manager Lenore Eggins said people with dementia don’t lose their sense of humour.
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“But they may forget how to instigate it,” she said.
“When they are engaged and laughing it triggers endorphins, improving wellbeing and helping them feel good about themselves which is extremely important.
“That is where the Humour Intervention Program (HIP) comes in.”
The HIP has a small team of carefully selected professional performers trained to work in healthcare environments with people who have dementia.
Hadden Place works closely with the Humour Foundation and their ElderField program to implement the HIP to engage clients one on one, twice a week, and will directly involve up to 60 clients over the term of the project.
Although the HIP is only in its early days the program is already having a positive effect, re-engaging those at Hadden Place and increasing the opportunities for communication, interaction and socialisation.
Humour Foundation Creative Director Jean-Paul Bell said they were delighted to see the ElderField program starting at Hadden Place.
“ElderField is aimed at encouraging residents and their carers to celebrate life by participating in fun and humour,” he said.
In Australia one in fifteen people over 65 has dementia. Hadden Place is the only centre of its kind in metropolitan Brisbane.
Photo : A Hadden Place client enjoys the ElderField program. Photo courtesy of Wesley Mission Brisbane
