Recently at Bromley Park Care Home we were treated to a VIP visit from Joyce Simard, founder of Namaste Care International (NCI). Joyce was accompanied by Nicola Kendall, University of Durham NCI Associate Director.
Nicola has completed a PhD research project entitled ‘Does Namaste Care improve wellbeing? Investigating the potential to validate the reported observable outcomes of Namaste Care by measuring biological, physiological and behavioural responses to the intervention; a mixed method study.’
Joyce Simard is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Western Sydney, Australia and a private geriatric consultant residing in Florida. She has been involved in long-term care for over 40 years, serving as an Alzheimer’s specialist for many healthcare companies providing services in skilled nursing homes, assisted living communities and hospice organisations. She has written numerous articles and chapters in healthcare books and has also authored three books including ‘The Magic Tape Recorder‘, a book for children about Alzheimer’s disease and ‘The End-of-Life Namaste Care Program for People with Dementia‘.
Professor Simard has been involved in research grants with the School of Nursing, University of Western Sydney and also St Christopher’s Hospice in the UK, measuring aspects of quality of life for people with advanced dementia, their families and staff participating in the Namaste Care Program. In January of 2013, Provider Magazine recognised her as one of ‘20 To Watch‘ for her leadership and commitment to improve the lives of residents in long-term care facilities. She travels around the world speaking and consulting to implement Namaste Care in a variety of settings and adapting it to honour the culture of each country. (namastecare.com)
Joyce and Nicola spent some time with our residents and team members at Bromley Park, observing our Namaste Care. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the benefits of Namaste Care for our residents and we were delighted with the engagement and feedback from Joyce and Nicola.
Namaste at Bromley Park is a therapeutic approach that enables us to connect and just ‘be’ with our residents. We have noticed a positive response from Namaste, including reducing episodes of anxiety with our residents. Namaste is also used as a diversion technique for residents who are distressed as it helps to provide a calming environment and promote positive feelings.
Special thank you to our Recreation and Well-Being Manager Viv for organising this visit; we are so very grateful to be able to showcase our Namaste approach to care.
