Clive Rogers used to be a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF; he was diagnosed with mixed dementia in 2017 – Alzheimer’s Disease, frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia. As Clive and his wife Barbara go round a building, Clive’s able to explain the impact of the physical environment on him. It’s so helpful to be able to “see through his eyes”, recognising the small changes we can make to the physical environment to help people living with dementia.
Clive and Barbara have generously looked round a good number of churches in the Shropshire area, helping us to see our church buildings with new eyes. And we’ve now filmed them looking round Leaton Church in the Severn Loop benefice near Shrewsbury, making a 10 minute film from this: Dementia-Friendly Churches: Reviewing the Physical Environment Have a look at the film and use this checklist to review your own church for dementia-friendliness.
You’ll learn more about various things that Clive points out:
Signage
It can be helpful to add simple laminated signs, with arrows and/or pictures as necessary, to navigate round the building. Black text on yellow backgrounds is ideal.
Lighting
Shadows and half light can be difficult: poor lighting can impact on peripheral vision and balance.
Toilet
It’s helpful if the fittings are in plain constrasting colours so that they are clearly visible.
Flooring and mats
Some colours of carpet can be more difficult: the plain blue carpet worked well for Clive, but a black mat can look like a hole in the floor and checkered or patterned floors or tiles are very “busy”.
Steps
Yellow and black tape or a colour contrast can help to mark a step clearly.
Notices, noticeboard & screens
Yellow writing on black is clear and it helps if notices, noticeboards and screens are at eye level.
For some issues that are unhelpful for dementia-friendliness, there is a simple, cost-effective solution e.g. adding laminated signs. Here, it’s good to go ahead and make straightforward changes. It’s also important to communicate why we’re doing so. As we name and face dementia together, we increase awareness and we open up connections and conversations: that’s all part of becoming a more dementia-friendly church.
We may identify other issues which are not a “quick fix”, perhaps because they would require significant expenditure e.g. upgrading lighting or changing flooring. Here, we might add the change to the “wish list” for the next refurbishment. We can also share our understanding and offer support e.g. a offering a steadying hand when walking over a checkered floor.
If you want to learn more about what makes a dementia-friendly physical environment, these links may be helpful:
- Alzheimer’s Society “Dementia-friendly environment checklist”: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/dementia-friendly-resources/organisations/dementia-friendly-environment-checklist
- DSDC, Stirling University: The Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University Dementia Services Development Centre (stir.ac.uk) includes research / information / resources on a dementia-friendly physical environment.
- The dementia environment at home: For more about a dementia-friendly physical environment at home, here’s a helpful 12 minute video.
If you use the film of Clive and Barbara in Leaton church, with the accompanying checklist, I’d love to hear how you get on. Email me at sarah.thorpe@lichfield.anglican.org.