Families are connecting virtually on the dancefloor with our ‘Escape to the Disco’ sessions
Grab your handbags, put on your dancing shoes and meet us on the dancefloor for our ‘Escape to the Disco’ sessions.
In our eyes, anywhere can be a dancefloor, whether that is your living room or kitchen or the care home lounge. The important thing is that families stay connected to loved ones with dementia through the pandemic and beyond.
The hour-long virtual ‘Escape to the Disco’ session with DJ Ged help families to stay connected through the power of the internet, music, dance and laughter- something I think we can all agree we need a bit of right now.
Here two daughters, Claire and Anna, tell us why they enjoy the sessions so much and how it keeps strong connections with their mums and makes them feel part of a community.
Claire says that her and her mum, Kay, both enjoy the variety of songs, weekly themes and dressing up together. “The music lifts our spirits, makes us feel happier and keeps us fit as we get up and dance to a few of the songs or do movements sat in our chairs.
“With mum’s dementia, sometimes she is vacant or lacks concentration. But when certain songs come on, with encouragement, she will sing or hum along to them and seems happy.
“This makes me happy too, seeing her like this.”
Anna also joins in when she can with her mum Marilyn, who lives in a care home.
Anna said: “I can see my mum and we can both have a shared enjoyment of something together, which during Covid has been a very scant opportunity.
“We get to smile and wave, have a bit of a dance and hold our arms out together to have a virtual hug. Now, her care home has set up ‘pod’ visits, but that hasn’t been available all the time. This is a much-needed and positive additional opportunity.
“It’s very hard to maintain an emotional connection with a relative who has dementia. My mum can’t really talk on the phone particularly well anymore, so the disco is a nice way of still being able to communicate together.
“Huge credit to the whole team, they’ve been an absolute lifeline in Covid.”
Our Empowered Conversations Project Manager, Emma Smith, said: “We love to get down and boogie and have a bit of fun during our sessions so Escape to the Disco seemed the perfect idea. It is vital that we offer people a platform to keep them engaged as families and I am so proud of the whole team who have done an amazing job of delivering a really interactive online programme of singing, support groups and more.
“It has become so important for so many families during this time.”
If you like more information about ‘Escape to the Disco’ or any other work we do, please email emmasmith@ageuksalford.org.uk or visit : https://empowered-conversations.co.uk