Winning two awards at the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards was a dream come true for us. Alive is a small charity based in Bristol and to have our work recognised by others was so incredible. Despite our size, we have always responded to the challenges faced by older people with innovation, compassion and commitment. We’ve always tried to do things differently, while really keeping the needs of older people right at the heart of what we do.
A forced change
We’ve delivered face-to-face activities for older people in care homes for 13 years – everything from gardening, music, exercise, reminiscence, technology and community engagement. We’ve trained care staff to ensure activity is person-centred and meaningful. We’ve campaigned to ensure older people’s mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing are prioritised alongside their physical wellbeing.
However, in March 2020, COVID-19 hit and we were no longer able to deliver our activities in care homes as before and our earned income had stopped. We were left with two choices: either respond and adapt, or, well, that second choice didn’t bear thinking about.
As ever, it was important that our response matched what older people and their carers really wanted, not what we thought they wanted. So, when we found that the nature of our live Zoom sessions was proving challenging for carers, we asked what we could do. Carers asked us to make our high-quality activities, inspiration and ideas available when they needed it, when they could access it easily. They wanted something that could be delivered to individuals in rooms and in groups, so the idea of interactive downloadable activities, or Alive on Demand, was born.
Developing a new model
We searched for funding, which we won. We looked for a suitable technology platform to use, which we found. We put together a team of creative and inspirational people to begin to mould Alive on Demand into a usable platform. It was incredible how quickly it came together. How ideas can be put into practice when you have the right people in place working brilliantly together with boundless energy. Evidently, it was challenging to get it off the ground. The biggest obstacles were technical; dealing with Apple and having apps approved. This delayed the project, but they are now up and running thanks to the tenacity of our Alive staff.
We now have a platform of over 250 inspiring, educational and engaging videos that are suitable for all older people, but especially for those living with dementia. They can be found on an easy-to-use platform through an app or browser. Care workers or family members can filter the videos on subject, presenter, video length, or level of dementia. There are even extra resources associated with each video so care staff can run a great activity session based around the video – from simple quizzes to picture resources, to musical scores. There is a huge range and variety of content, from City Tours and reminiscence sessions to poetry, art classes, gardening and music.
Some of the videos are calming, such as a boat trip, or a walk through the woods, or a gentle day at the beach, all designed to support people living with dementia and provide a different sensory experience. Very often there are fewer resources for people with more advanced dementia and so Alive on Demand is working towards increasing the support here.
Users can sign up easily, either for an individual subscription or a care home subscription just by joining online. The process is simple and easy to use.
We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved in a short period of time. We are seeing care homes using it brilliantly in their group and one-to-one sessions. It’s really broadening and supporting their activity provision and helping care staff to get back to delivering group sessions which has been a struggle. True to our values, though, it’s being used as a vehicle for discussion, for older people to connect to their memories and to share their stories with others and not just to watch. Our vision is for this to grow, for many care homes to sign up, for us to be able to support people in their homes with engaging and informative videos that they help us to shape.
Our oasis of peace
The second award we received was for dementia care – this time for the development of a Dementia Friendly Allotment in Bristol. Like the development of Alive on Demand, this came into being during lockdown. We were given the keys to the allotment plot in March 2020 and were slightly concerned as to how we would make it happen given the circumstances.
As ever, the resilience of my staff and volunteers shone through and, in a COVID-safe way, they somehow transformed a barren, hard patch of land into a ‘heaven and oasis of peace’ for people living with dementia and their carers to come and garden and spend time with others.
When you look at the before and after photos it’s astonishing to see what the team managed to achieve. With challenges from COVID-19, a shortage of funding, a lack of available resources, and a steep learning curve, it’s not far off a small miracle!
The first major challenge was crowdfunding for a compost toilet, but we achieved that and, with some incredible support from local businesses, we were able to make the plot completely wheelchair friendly with paths and raised beds. We worked hard to keep the other allotment holders involved in our vision, as it did resemble a building plot at times, but they stuck with us and now they can see the real benefits of the allotment and what a difference it is making to people every week.
We are now running gardening groups three to four times a week for people living with dementia and their care partners. Memory Cafés and community groups are bringing their members up for cream teas and social gardening over the warmer months. We have a regular team of volunteers who support the participants and help us with maintenance. The allotment really is delivering what we had hoped – a social space for both individuals and their carers to relax, enjoy, connect with nature and find joy. One carer said, ‘I’ve got my old John back here,’ while another said, ‘We look forward to this every week.’ We’ve seen improvements in mobility and speech from participants; carers have found time, space and a sense of peace, with one commenting, ‘It doesn’t matter what I or Andrew look like or what has gone on in the day or week, we are comfortable and relaxed here.’
We want to share the allotment with others (you may well have seen us on Gardeners’ World in September). We want more participants to come and benefit, but we also want to share our experience and knowledge with others, and we are helping and supporting other groups to set up similar projects. If others can benefit as much as our participants, it will be a joy to see.
Deserved recognition
The teams on both projects have worked tirelessly to bring these projects to fruition in incredibly difficult circumstances, and for them to be recognised at the Awards was so important for them. It just shows what can be achieved with hard work, determination and passion.
Sign up to Alive on Demand at aliveondemand.co.uk or get in touch at [email protected]. For further information on the Community Gardening project, email [email protected] or follow @alivegardening on Twitter.