Care home creates traditional high street in corridor (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Care home creates traditional high street in corridor

3:41pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in News

RESIDENTS of a North-East care home will be able to take a walk down memory lane after one of the corridors in the facility was transformed into a traditional high street.

Staff at the Lakeside Care Home, in Darlington, decided to revamp the dementia unit at the facility in the hope of stimulating memories and brightening up residents’ surroundings.

The main corridor within the unit has been redecorated to look like a row of shops, including a butchers, baker, bank and post office, complete with windows filled with everyday items.

The dementia unit has also been renamed the Arthur Wharton Suite, in tribute to the first professional black footballer, who started his career in Darlington.

Katie Makepeace, activities co-ordinator at Lakeside, said: “We’ve tried to make it look like the kind of traditional high streets we used to have, so it has a sweet shop, a chemists and an old-fashioned toy shop.

“We’ve named the shops after members of staff and residents will no longer have room numbers, they will live next to the post office or the butchers.

“It’s about reminiscing and picking up things they used to use and remember. It’s looking really good and we hope it will give a homely feel for the residents, rather than a plain corridor.”