Kate Kennedy, Health & Social Care Lecturer, says:

The idea of the room is to help our students understand the impact that dementia can have on a person in a more practical way rather than just theory.  A report from Alzheimer Scotland ‘Delivering Integrated Dementia Care’ highlights that the environment plays a major role in Dementia Care and that interior design, adaptations, aids and assistive technology are crucial in maintaining the independence of the person and assisting the carer.

With this in mind, our Greenock Campus Health & Social Care and Construction department have worked together to create a room where Care students could gain hands-on experience in integrating such environmental factors and aids in Care practice.

The construction work involved our Painting & Decorating students, who painted the class, and our Joinery students, who fitted equipment in the room such as a kitchen and a fireplace.

Paul Lynn, Construction Curriculum & Quality Leader, kindly donated the kitchen and Andrew Neeson, Construction Curriculum Enhancement Lecturer, helped to source the fireplace.

This project is a great example of cross-departmental collaboration which benefits all, our Construction students putting their skills into practice and our Care students gaining hands-on experience.