Carey Lodge in Leighton Buzzard Buckinghamshire provides specialist residential care for older people, including those living with dementia, in a safe and welcoming environment. Each person has a personal support plan and has their Bradford Well-being Profile regularly assessed.

Having successfully fund-raised for a Mobii magic surface, interactive floor and table projector  Sue Faulkner, Community & Lifestyle Manager for Fremantle, looked forward to sharing it with the residents of Carey Lodge.

From the very first moment the Mobii was turned on she says;

‘I was absolutely amazed at how active and involved they became. It’s been wonderful to see them all engrossed laughing and chatting amongst themselves. When we [projected] the coral reef with fish onto the floor they all began to dip their feet in with one resident exclaiming; ‘Wow it’s like I’m paddling in the sea how wonderful’ and another joined in ‘it reminds me of my holiday by the sea…listen to the water, we can see the fish, I used to have a fish like that one’.

Throwing the bean bags into the puddles of paint on the floor to ‘splash’ them has been another favourite. ’I love this game’ said one of our ladies. They are often disappointed when the session ends for lunch!

Over the weeks we have seen all nine residents Well-being Profile’s improve, with a few residents showing a marked change in their outlook. Dot has thoroughly enjoyed participating in the sessions, concentrating for far longer then she has ever before and more importantly showing enjoyment from interaction with her fellow residents. When Anne takes part in the games she is more able to articulate how she feels and clearly enjoys the sense of community that arises from coming together with others.

Over the weeks we have seen all nine residents Well-being Profile’s improve, with a few residents showing a marked change in their outlook.

There have been some other very special moments too. We have an older gentleman who we’ve struggled to reach who was also no longer communicating with his son when he visited. His son mentioned he used to have a passion for aircraft so we encouraged him over to the Mobii magic surface table and chose the ‘Spitfire’ app. As soon as he moved his fingers he could hear the sound of a spitfire in the distance, we encouraged him to scatter the virtual clouds out of the way and the spitfire got louder and slowly came into view. Seeing him motivated to move and then hearing him say ‘plane’ with a big smile as he pointed at it was just so emotional for all of us. The combination of hearing the distinct sounds of the spitfire, then having to scatter the clouds out of the way to see it seemed to revitalise him for a while. Those precious moments of re-connection with his son were invaluable, we were all emotional wrecks!

We are so pleased with the contribution the Mobii magic surface has made to Carey Lodge already, inspiring group participation and bringing real therapeutic benefits. We are excited to create our own apps using resident’s photos, paintings and music as a way of personalising the system and aiding reminiscence by helping them to connect with positive memories.’

Sue Faulkner, Community & Lifestyle Manager, Fremantle Trust