AN activities co-ordinator at a Bridgwater care home has been using his experiences of working with people with autism to help communicate with residents during lockdown.

Jason Saunders, who leads the activities team at Avalon Nursing Home in Bridgwater, has been using story-boards to help residents with dementia to understand changes being made during lockdown.

Jason said using the story-boards highlights the importance of communicating carefully with residents during lockdown.

“People living with dementia have cognitive issues which can make it so much harder for them to understand the need for the Covid safety precautions and health protection measures, and this can lead to high levels of frustration,” Jason said.

“It is up to us to notice when our residents are trying to express their worries and do what we can to reassure them.

“One of the techniques I used in a previous position, working with people with autism, was to devise a special story board to address hard-to-understand subjects that were causing concern, and we’re finding these work incredibly well with our residents living with dementia as well.

“I’ve created story boards to address issues like why places we usually visit are currently closed, why staff and visiting health care professionals are wearing PPE, what social distancing is all about, and to explain why testing is needed and what it involves.”

Jason said everyday safety measures such as face masks and aprons which staff are now used to ‘still come as a surprise’ to some of the home’s residents.

He said the story boards ensure staff are ‘consistent’ with the answers to the questions and don’t miss any issues which may be important to residents.

“The story board about testing explains it is to keep the individual and others around them safe, how the person doing the test will be dressed up to protect them from germs and what they will be wearing, and says that lots of people may need the test so there might be a short wait involved,”Jason said.

“It also explains what the swabbing involves, and that it might not feel very nice, but it will be finished very quickly.

“Our nurses are able to share this story board with residents just before testing occurs, which maximises the chance they’ll remember why they’re being tested and really goes a long way to minimising any confusing and allaying our residents’ concerns.”