Hearts & Minds were delighted to participate in the Rights Made Real Project funded by the charity My Home Life.
Rights Made Real (RMR) in care homes was a project working with 68 care homes in Scotland to explore and enhance the promotion of human rights for care home residents and with a particular emphasis for people living with later stage dementia. RMR provided 20 opportunities and a series of resources for the residents and their families related to exploring and enhancing human rights.
The four human rights that the project focussed on were: Personal Expression; Participation in Cultural Life; Participation in Public (and Community) Life; a Private and Family Life.
Our Elderflower Programme was offered as part of the Personal Expression opportunities and our Elderflowers visited care home residents in dementia care, and delivered visits using their therapeutic clowning techniques, music, songs and stories to engage and encourage communication.
Two of the care homes our Elderflowers visited were Glenfield and Bagatelle in Greenock. Diana Knox, the Activity Development Co-ordinator commented on the Elderflower visits:
“The photos show the connection between the residents and the Elderflowers and for me seeing the reactions of the residents, they brightened the day, for each in their own way. Blossom and Lily were exciting; someone new and the residents were inquisitive to follow their lead. The spontaneity and versatility of their style was a pleasure to watch and GMAS, Bagatelle and Glenfield were fortunate and grateful to have been a part of this project.”
The photos below show a visit at Glenfield Care Home, and Rachel Colles, aka Blossom Elderflower, told us a little bit more about the story behind the photos:
Blossom and Lily Elderflower had the huge pleasure of being part of the Rights Made Real programme working with Bagatelle, Glenfield and Muirton Care Homes. The majority of the project was delivered online but we were lucky to have two in person visits at the end of the project. It was delightful to meet people we had seen over Zoom building on that engagement alongside meeting other ladies and gentlemen. It felt that even though the ladies and gentlemen may not all have remembered our Zoom visits, we already had a connection and ways in for engagement. One new lady we met was delighted with our red noses. She played a game with us reaching out and touching our noses in a very mischievous way, being playful with who she was going to get next leading to lots of laughter. Staff mentioned this lady would often sit with her head down and eyes shut and were very happy to see her this engaged during a beautiful visit with no words but a clear connection.
If you would like to read more about the project please visit the website via the link below.
