I was watching tv with the residents in the nursing home and I realised that much of the current day news and tv shows are violent, have themes of murder, are explicit or inappropriate. When the Lindt Cafe siege was being beamed onto our tv screens it was ‘around the clock’ coverage with a live feed. I can only imagine that if these tv channels are left on all day, these events can become a reality for people with dementia, or disturbing to say the least.
It would be very interesting to read the handover reports from that day(and the day after) or even 9/11 to see if there was an impact on resident behaviour and demeanour.
We need to come up up with some BIG ideas and creative thinking for people with dementia. What about a TV channel dedicated to the people with dementia and the elderly? It could have news services with violent reports removed, age appropriate movies and dramas, they could even have customised shows that replay old tv adverts eg Colgate, Vegemite etc…..
This tv channel could be beamed into every nursing home via Foxtel and have a positive impact on thousands of people and potentially could positively influence nursing homes on mass by simply turning on the television. The carers would not need to worry about changing channels and loading dvd’s there roles may also be helped as the passive entertainment can be constantly providing it’s own sort of therapy in the background.
We would need to give Andre Rieu a regular time slot though:)
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