THE Edensor nursing and dementia care home in Clacton invited 2 unique visitors when among the Care home’s Senior Carers generated his 2 snakes, Kaa a Royal Python and Nemisis a Corn snake.
The homeowners actually valued the experience and delighted in feeling the texture and heat of the snakes and checking out more about these typically misinterpreted reptiles.
Dale Gould, Senior Carer, Edensor Care Centre said:
“Bringing my two snakes into Edensor enabled our residents to have a very different experience and most of the residents really enjoyed meeting and holding the snakes. Kaa my Royal Python and Nemisis the Corn snake are eleven years old and can live up to 30 or 40 years, so hopefully the residents will enjoy a regular visit for many years to come.”
Andrew Parlour, an Edensor citizen with Alzheimer’s said:
“I used to own snakes myself, so this brought back amazing memories of my own snakes and I really enjoyed the experience of holding these beautiful reptiles.”
Sabina Mach, Manager, of Edensor Care Centre said:
“It was great to see everyone’s reactions to the snakes. Andrew in particular was so engaged, talking about them and his past experiences with snakes brought about many happy memories from his life, which made the whole experience so valuable and worthwhile.”
It is hoped that Dale will generate the snakes every month which other reptiles, consisting of tortoises or lizards, will check out the homeowners.
Sabina Mach, Manager of Edensor Care Centre continued:
“The visit from Dale’s Snakes meant our residents were able to explore these amazing creatures up close and learn more about them. Many of our residents have dementia and there are significant benefits to allowing people to reconnect with past fun memories. Witnessing their interactions, engagement and comments showed us just how many positive things our residents took from the experience. Their smiles and reactions were priceless and they were already talking about the next visit and looking forward to it.”
To discover more about Edensor, please see: www.diagramafoundation.org.uk/senior-dementia-care/edensorcarehomeclacton.
