Yahoo News Wallsend husband pays tribute to 'compassionate and loving' staff at wife's dementia care home
A Wallsend man has paid tribute to the "ten out of ten" care his wife receives living with dementia.
Cliff Snowdon's wife Cath has been a resident at Eothen Wallsend for the last 18 months. The home, which has turned eight this week, runs an innovative "butterfly" model of care, which is built around "households" and allows people living there to enjoy as much freedom as possible.
The home looks after up to 64 people, and marked its birthday during this year's Dementia Action Week. Speaking to ChronicleLive, Cliff said he had nothing but good things to say about the home and its staff.
He said: "My wife has been in this wonderful Eothen care home now for 18 months now and I come every day. And I can say standards are extremely high and have been for the whole of the time my wife's been in in this home. The facilities are wonderful, the areas are spacious and airy.
"The staff are phenomenally professional. They are compassionate and loving and dignity is a big part of the care home.
"Entertainment is wonderful, the maintenance is extremely high and I can honestly say I'm extremely happy with the care given to my wife for the last 18 months, I've given the home ten out of ten."
Home manager Christine Henderson explained that creating a care home that felt cosy and homely was at the heart of what Eothen does. She said: "We provide a home-from-home environment with very spacious grounds, while inside is warm, cosy and exactly what you would want a home to be.
"The residents are kept occupied. They are kept busy. There's lots of fun things to do - We've been baking this morning and it's also our eighth birthday today, so we'll be enjoying the rewards of our baking this afternoon - with birthday cake."
The Eothen group also runs care homes in Whitley Bay and Gosforth, but its Wallsend site offers specialist dementia care, something in demand as the condition, according to statistics from 2022, accounts for 10% of all the lives lost around the UK.
The "butterfly" model sees care home residents free to roam between "houses" at Eothen, while staff don’t wear uniforms. The decor around the home is also specially designed to minimise the confusion someone with dementia might experience.
The Alzheimer's Society's Dementia Action Week runs from May 13 to May 19 and sees the charity work to "bring the UK together to take action on improving dementia diagnosis rates".
