Guardian Discusses Program Bringing Poetry to Patients With Dementia

Emma Sheppard reports on a charity in Liverpool that brings poetry to patients living in care homes who suffer from dementia. "Stephanie Brada reads the Henry Charles Beeching poem Going Down Hill on a Bicycle to a group of residents at a care home. They read along with her, some mouthing the words, others silently following the print-outs on their laps," Sheppard begins. From there: 

“Michael, did you ever have a bike?” Brada asks one of the men sitting across from her.

“Yes,” he replies. “I rode it to work.”

This might be unremarkable in another setting, but the 10 participants of this reading group at Stapely care home in Liverpool all have dementia. Moments of clarity can be rare. After some discussion of bicycles and riding down hills, another poem is read – My Grandmother’s African Grey by Matt Simpson. Unprompted, another resident starts talking about her grandparents’ parrot.

“She never normally says anything,” Brada says afterwards. “Some have quite severe dementia but if they can see [the poem], they can read aloud.”

More than one million people in the UK are expected to have dementia by 2025, while 70% of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems. Despite being one of the main causes of disability in later life , the UK spends much less on treating it than cancer, heart disease and strokes.

A number of innovative techniques have been tried by care homes to engage those with dementia, including virtual reality therapy, opera and standup comedy. Reading poems aloud – or shared reading – can have a significant impacton residents’ mood, concentration and social interaction.

Brada has led shared reading groups at Stapely since 2015 and – with two other volunteers – now runs three groups a week. During each one-hour session, three poems are read aloud multiple times by the residents, and then discussed. Care home trustee Philip Ettinger says staff attend the groups themselves if they can spare the time.

“Staff get a buzz from it,” he says. “It’s a privilege to witness the joy on residents’ faces as they realise they can still get great satisfaction from reading aloud together.”

Continue reading at The Guardian.