Hong Kong aged care home using art therapy to help keep dementia sufferers’ minds active
Four out of five residents at the Jockey Club Sunshine Complex for the Elderly have some form of dementia
Art is breathing new life into the Jockey Club Sunshine Complex for the Elderly where four out of five new residents suffer from some form of dementia.
Helen Fong, a senior supervisor at the Wong Chuk Hang home, is leading the development of an art therapy programme for the centre’s residents and said it can boost brain activity in people with the slow and progressive brain disease.
“Many lack the ability to even feed themselves,” she said.
Fong – a self-taught amateur watercolour painter – said she introduced one of the first art-integrated care home concepts in the city, and is creating a standard protocol and programme plan.
“Art therapy is a trend around the world. It is now all about brain training and keeping minds active,” she said.
Memory loss, incontinence, loss of reasoning and fine motor skills are just some of the realities facing those with dementia.
“Art enhances self-esteem and it gives them a sense of gratification and pride when they see their painting on the wall,” Fong said.
She said painting was also an exercise of “reality orientation”.
“Say they are painting an orange. They may not realise it’s an orange. But after they smell it, touch it, paint it and then perhaps, eat it ... they might,” she said.
The centre’s dementia patients are encouraged to paint objects that they enjoy or are nostalgic about. And the interior of the complexis proof of the therapy’s work, with framed artwork by residents lining the walls.
Fong said care homes needed new ideas to stimulate patients, not just watching black-and-white movies or singing songs, but “more proactive means”. And that carers, not outside teachers, should be trained in art therapy.
The centre, which opened in March after a redevelopment, provides 164 subsidised places, 243 self-financing places and 20 self-financing day care places.
