Inside Peterborough council’s ‘good flat’ showcasing assistive know-how

Meowing cats, snoozing puppies and a humanoid “huggie” with a “heartbeat”: these are simply a few of the objects on show at Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) good flat in Stanground.

The flat, positioned on the underside flooring of additional care facility Kingfisher Court, is decked out with gadgets aimed toward serving to elderly and disabled folks reside independently.

While the encompassing flats, run by Cross Keys Homes, are occupied by residents, the good flat is rented by PCC and open to guests inquisitive about assistive know-how.

Not all of it’s available from PCC, adults’ providers and communities officer Geraldine Jinks defined, however it’s an indication of what’s available to purchase for individuals who consider they’d profit from it.

The cuddly cat, as an illustration, which strikes in addition to mews, and the puppies might be “comforting” to individuals who reside on their very own or have just lately misplaced a pet, she stated.

The “huggie”, displayed on the mattress within the flat, has weighted arms and a mechanical heartbeat and might be equally comforting, she added.

“One of our learning disability nurses always slept with her head on her mum’s chest and consequently her mum said she’d like to have a carer a couple of nights a week to have a break,” Ms Jinks stated.

“The nurse took this out to trial it and for the very first time she fell asleep with the huggie instead. No care package was needed and it gave her mum a new lease of life.”

Also within the bed room is a set of lifelines, which join elderly or disabled folks to an operator and probably onto emergency providers if they’ve a fall or if their smoke or carbon monoxide detector is activated.

New WiFi lifelines have been “revelatory”, Ms Jinks stated, as they are often related to a person’s household as an alternative, which is especially useful when that person doesn’t converse English.

Similar to a lifeline is an unbiased carer pager.

Ms Jinks stated that she introduced one in all these to point out a person who was the primary carer to his disabled spouse on a home go to.

“When I went to see them, he showed me all the woodturning he did and all the beautiful things he’d made,” she stated. “But he said he doesn’t do it any more because all his tools are in the shed at the bottom of the garden and if his wife needed him, he wouldn’t be able to hear her.”

Ms Jinks stated that she then gave him and his spouse unbiased carer pagers, telling her to strive activating it whereas he was within the shed to see whether or not he may hear it.

“He stepped out happy as larry,” she stated, “and his wife said ‘thank goodness for that, he sits with me all day moaning about Loose Women and everything else’ and now he can get back to his hobby knowing she’s safe”.

Beneath the mattress, in the meantime, is a motion-activated mild in case an elderly person tries to stand up within the evening with out switching a light-weight on.

Over within the kitchen, there’s a one cup kettle, which can be utilized with out a person having to select it up, and radios with simplified buttons.

Throughout the remainder of the flat there’s a plethora of leaflets and different assistive applied sciences, reminiscent of a sensible watch with a GPS tracker and fall detector and Ring doorbells which document folks approaching somebody’s door.

There are additionally a number of medication holders and dispensers, reminiscent of a medication tipper, and a reminder clock which might be programmed to broadcast alerts.

Some of the objects on show are, although, rather less technological.

There are additionally capsule packing containers labelled with completely different days of the week and a long-handed sponge for showering.