LAST month during Dementia Australia’s Dementia Action Week, The Royce Penrith provided a variety of programs open to Retirement Living and Aged Care residents and their loved ones. 

The Royce is working with Dementia Australia to become a Dementia Friendly Community. This means that all staff at the Royce and the Royce Manor have undertaken training to ensure that people living with Dementia are made to feel welcome, included and valued.

The Dementia Friendly program enables staff to increase their dementia awareness and communication skills, improve the accessibility of signage and lighting and enhance the readability of forms and documents, among other important things. Staff now know how to support and communicate with a person living with dementia.

To celebrate Dementia Action Week, The Royce and The Royce Manor held events throughout the week, including a Brain Fit Program run by Dementia Australia and a Music Therapy Class delivered by Noro. 

Dementia and Memory Care has been an important focus of The Royce for many years but has been heightened by the amazing work done via Royce’s Big Walk. Royce Simmons is the Brand Ambassador for The Royce and a valued member of their community.  

The Royce Manor Amazing Race & Morning Tea was a favourite event among the residents. Three stations were set up, each supervised by staff. The station had mind puzzles for the residents to solve then they could move on to the next station.  There was flag guessing, silhouette image guessing, and a test of the smell sensory. Residents were also thrilled with the The Royce Manor Ribbon Search. Due to the weather, this was done inside the building. The team hid some ribbons around the corridors and the residents went out looking for them. 

The residents really enjoyed the activities and I suspect the staff did also!  The Royce is proving over and over again that it is more than just a residence; it’s a lifestyle.