A nursing home in Holland is making their residents feel a little more at home by having the doors to their rooms transformed to something a bit more familiar – their own homes.
The residents doors now look how they want it to – whether it be similar to their bedroom door at home, their own front door, or even of a faraway place they long to visit.
A Netherlands based company, True Doors, have created made-to-measure sticker of doors that are personalised to each resident.
The door stickers help to make the residents feel more at home, as well as helping them identify their room – thus reducing the chances of walking into someone else’s room by accident.
E. Van Velzen, the daughter of a resident who received a new door explained how it changed her mother, “the door is from my mum’s childhood home, where she had a wonderful time….we talk about the past more often, about where she lived.”
“This gives her peace and privacy,” Van Velzen explained, “every resident has his/her own personalised door, so they’re finding their owns room more easily. When the family visits her, it feels more like we are entering her home, rather than being in a nursing home.”
Petra vd Star’s father also received a new door for his room, “I can tell my father feels more comfortable now that the environment looks less like a hospital”.
“He is very proud of his door and he likes that it’s blue, his favourite colour. He loves showing his door to visitors and he’s happy when people say something nice about his door”.
True Doors’ began this project in 2014, at an aged care home in South Holland. Many of the resident at this particular facility have dementia.
And these new re-invigorated doors are just making the residents happier – it’s helping the whole facility.
It creates and encourages social interaction between residents as they discuss what their door means to them and begin talking about their former homes, “they reminisce more often and talk about the doors from their past. The true doors also stimulate social interaction, there are conversations between residents, family members and the nursing staff”.
According to those who work at the facility, something as simple as a new door creates a nicer working environment for staff while giving residents a sense of pride.
See some of the happy residents and their doors below;
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