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Pabulum
Pabulum is a project of Age Concern Norfolk working to improve the lives and well-being of people with dementia and their carers.
The word Pabulum comes from the Latin word for "nourishment" and the project aims to "nourish" the minds of its service users through the use of reminiscence-based, person-centred support in group work and home visits.
Pabulum Groups
Pabulum operates two groups in Norfolk: Remembering Yesterday, Caring Today (RYCT) and Wroxy Music.
RYCT meets in Norwich and is a reminiscence group that uses activities and social interaction to help raise self-esteem and aid communication. In a failure-free environment we aim to stimulate long-term memory. An experienced team of facilitators and volunteers provide activities. There are separate programmes for carers and the relatives they care for.
Wroxy Music meets at Wroxham once a month for musical activities. It is based on the awareness that people with dementia can often communicate more easily through music than verbal or other methods of communication.
Both carer and the person for whom they care participate in Pabulum groups. Carers encourage and support each other as well as exchanging information. The whole process contributes to ongoing support whilst people continue to care and be cared for at home.
Home Visits
Our volunteers visit people in their own homes on a weekly basis for up to 12 weeks and support both the family carer and the cared-for person in remembering early life, school days, jobs etc. Together they can make a Life Story Book - this is a book about the cared-for person's life, or put together a Memory Box.
Pabulum volunteers are specially trained to provide mental and emotional nourishment through the stimulation of long-term memories with reminiscence activities designed to tap into individuals' interests and abilities.
If you would like more information about Pabulum either as a carer or becoming a volunteer please contact us.
2008 will see two new exciting initiatives within the Pabulum Project:
Pabulum Cafe
For people with dementia and their carers the issues commonly highlighted are loneliness, isolation and a lack of opportunities to speak to others in similar situations to themselves.
Ever wanting to improve the service provision to the people with dementia and their carers, the Pabulum Project will open two Pabulum Cafes within
A range of services, drawing upon Age Concern Norfolk’s substantial experience of delivering information, advice, advocacy and other care services and having the additional strength of partnership working with other agencies, bringing specialist knowledge and support as required will be available.The Cafe concept is based on a variation on the work of Dutch psychologists, Miesen and Blom[1] who established the first Alzheimer’s Cafe in 1997 as a forum in which people with dementia, their carers, family and professionals could come together to share experiences, offer support and learn.Our Pabulum Cafes are looking at a variation that is more applicable to our regional needs.
Meetings will be held monthly, always on a fixed day. In general, there will be 10 Dementia Cafes a year, avoiding the holiday seasons.Regular reports will be posted to this site keeping you informed on progress, dates and venues.
The Blue Book
Variety and stimulation are very important for people with dementia but too many changes can be confusing and a regular routine will help feelings of security and make it easier for the person to remember what usually happens during the day, contributing to a feeling of well-being.
The recognition of the gap between the function of our Life Story Book and a professional Care Plan resulted in the design of the Pabulum Blue Book.
The Blue Book is more personal than the Life Story Book and contains useful information for caring professionals and nursing staff. It is not a care plan; it helps us understand the routines in the day to day living of the person with dementia. The Blue Book therefore does not mention any medical conditions and or medical requirements.
The Pabulum Blue Book has to be of good quality; it requires a certain Wow factor for making people to read and use it. It comes in two versions; the padded version has the pages inserted in sleeves with spare pages at the end of the book. This design would particular suit people for whom managing routines becomes more challenging. The other more basic design can be used by respite centres, residential homes and hospitals where the carer can fill in the information on the spot if necessary.
Talks
The Pabulum Project will come out to groups, agencies and organisation to talk about:
- Life Story Book work.
- The Pabulum Blue Book and its use.
- Dementia awareness,
- “Why do I act and react like this”, a practical awareness session.
[1] “The Alzheimer’s Cafe – a guideline for setting one up”, from the original “Handleiding Alzheimer Cafe” by Biere Miesen and Marco Blom, translated and adapted by Gemma Jones.
Additional Information