Personalised Doors at St Francis Aged Care, Orange Help Dementia Residents

Personalised doors are being installed this week to help residents living with dementia at Catholic Healthcare St Francis Aged Care in Orange.

This simple yet ingenious initiative to change the appearance of the doors at St Francis will help to make 10 residents feel at home.

The doors in St Francis were modelled as closely to residents’ original doors as possible in a bid to trigger a memory of their favourite home.

Resident, Rae said, “I love my new door. It’s so much like me.”

Jennie, Care Manager of St Francis said, “After the success of the doors installed at another one of our Catholic Healthcare Homes, Emmaus Village at Kemps Creek in Sydney last year, we were keen to replicate the project for our own residents who found themselves easily confused.

This new initiation is more person-centred and the doors will provide our residents with a sense of home and familiarity.”

Sonia, Quality Officer and Recreational Activities Officer said, “We wanted to improve the look of the Dementia Support Unit and provide a more homely feeling for our residents when they enter their rooms. The personalised doors will not only help residents identify their room but will also hopefully inspire them to discuss their own family homes. Invoking feelings and memories is very powerful for residents living with dementia.”

The personalised doors were originally inspired by Dutch project True Doors, which recreated doors of residents’ original homes using stick-on designs.

An estimated 250 people are diagnosed with dementia every day. It has become the second leading cause of death in Australia.

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