A nursing home that uses pet therapy with dogs to help dementia treatment has now added a simulated train carriage that recreates travel from the 1940s.
The carriage lined with walnut décor, gold luggage racks, vintage shopping items and even metal signs has been installed at East Ham’s Manor Farm Care Home.
Its ‘window’ is a large smart TV screen showing footage of steam train journeys from times past.
“This sensory room is designed to stimulate memories,” care home manager Marta Gize-Uwake explained. “It helps with socialising by bringing people together to share memories using railway journeys to wherever they’d like to go.”
A ‘station waiting room’ has also been installed where residents buy and stamp old-style train tickets and relax in the café before ‘boarding’ the train.
It is the latest addition to a £200,000 refurbishment of the 79-bed home in High Street South, East Ham.
It is on the dementia floor, along with a trolley with an interactive screen that can be wheeled to bed-bound patients with sensory items for art classes and birthday celebrations.
Pet therapy sessions are also used at the home where two pet dogs named Ted and Buddy visit each week.
The railway carriage was the idea of Little Islands creative environments centre in Lancashire that makes specialist equipment and sensory rooms to help dementia care.
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