The Mayor of Woollahra, Toni Zeltzer, visited The Cottage in Rushcutters Bay to spend a morning with the staff and clients of our dementia day centre. The Wentworth Courier accompanied her and photographer Danny Aarons captured her (right) playing bingo with our clients.
At the morning tea clients met not only the Mayor but also a group of dementia nurses and other allied health professionals from St Vincent’s and Prince of Wales Hospitals.
The Mayor, who originally noted she only had about 40 minutes in her tight schedule ended up staying nearly two hours, playing Bingo and trivia with clients and talking to staff about the Cottage.
The Mayor heard that the comfort of the clients could be improved with new blinds, which she immediately organised. She felt a new kitchen would be a great improvement and that air conditioning would also be make the Cottage more comfortable especially in summer.
The heritage harbour front property is managed by the Council and leased to South Eastern Community Connect to provide therapy and support for members of the community with dementia.
“Up to twelve people visit us every day to spend time enjoying each other’s company, engage in therapeutic activities including art, and to stimulate mind and memory”, says Amy Drewe, the Cottage’s coordinator and diversional therapist.
The results of the therapy program at ‘The Cottage’ speak for themselves. Regular assessments of the clients shows that for most of them deterioration clearly slows down during their time at ‘The Cottage.’ Five clients recently returned the same or even slightly better results on their cognitive tests.
‘The Cottage’ is for people who have been diagnosed with low-medium level dementia. Amy assesses new clients with a loved one or carer of a prospective client, to see if ‘The Cottage’ is a suitable environment for the person’s medical needs and personal interests. Where possible she matches them with clients that share common interests or histories.
For those who attend The Cottage, door to door transport, morning tea and lunch are provided, at a cost of $30 per day. The Cottage currently has vacancies on several days.
To book an assessment of for further information contact Amy Drewe on 02 8971 9012 or visit the Cottage page on this website