Jane Jarvis (Ad-Memoire Project Manager) and Grahame Hardy (Specialist Nurse for Dementia at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and Ad-Memoire user) spoke at the NAPA Year of Creativity Conference 2022 about the impact of vintage ads on patients living with dementia.
Thank you to NAPA for hosting the event – it was a wonderful opportunity to get people enthused about Ad-Memoire and the good work it is doing.
Professor Martin Green, CEO of Care England, talks about the power of reminiscence resources like Ad-Memoire:
“Reminiscence is one of the most important ways in which we support people living with dementia. Through connecting with important events and past memories people can often improve their quality-of-life and well-being. Ad-Memoire is a fantastic resource that will really enable staff to connect with care home residents and deliver the benefits of reminiscence to many more people”
Professor Martin Green OBE
Care England, Chief Executive
Ad-Memoire has been improving patients wellbeing on hospital wards by stimulating treasured memories for patients, thanks to the generous support of the Alan Boswell Group Charitable Trust (ABGCT).
For patients living with dementia, a stay in hospital can be disorientating, frightening and confusing, and so the provision of stimulation and emotional support plays an important part in making the experience less challenging. Several hospitals across East Anglia are finding that sharing themed reels of vintage ads created by Ad-Memoire on tablets and iPads is really helping to tick this box.
The Alan Boswell Group Charitable Trust have funded the licensing of Ad-Memoire to a number of hospitals across East Anglia, bringing warm feelings of nostalgia to patients living with dementia in a number of different hospital settings.
At the Julian Hospital in Norwich, Senior Occupational Therapist Alex Kemp and his team assess patients with varying levels of cognitive impairment and have found Ad-Memoire to be a helpful tool to use one-to-one with patients:
“Ad-Memoire helps us to assess patients’ ability by witnessing how they communicate, focus and see the world. At a time when we are there to remind patients that they aren’t managing their short-term memory, it is nice to accompany that with an opportunity for them to exercise their long-term memory and teach us something.”
At hospitals in the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust and the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth, volunteers have been using Ad-Memoire on the wards to spark an instant connection with patients. Rebecca Kennedy, a Dementia Befriender at James Paget, says Ad-Memoire is a “fantastic tool” and recalls her first experience of using it with a patient:
“It was when I showed a lady an old Persil advert of some children playing in the street and her reaction was amazing! Her face lit up and it opened up the conversation. I wanted to keep using it again to get more reactions like that, where patients could talk about their experiences and memories.”
At the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, the very first to trial Ad-Memoire back in January 2020, Ad-Memoire has become an invaluable resource for the Dementia Support Team. Liz Yaxley, who heads the team, has been using it throughout lockdown and is grateful to ABGCT for allowing them to continue:
“I am always looking out for ways to improve wellbeing of patients in our care, this app has surpassed our expectations. It adds a little sparkle to the day. The adverts on the app bring back happy memories and generate great conversations and it’s great fun singing along to the catchy tunes. Laughter is a great medicine.”
The themed reels of TV ads can be selected to play appropriate to a patient’s interests or needs and the team at the N&N also reported that watching ads of food before mealtimes helps stimulate patients’ appetites.
ABGCT is an independent subsidiary of Alan Boswell Insurance, the insurance and financial planning group with offices across the East of England. The Trust distributes a percentage of company profits to local causes, and so they were delighted to be able to support HAT in rolling out Ad-Memoire to be enjoyed by patients in local hospitals:
“We’re delighted to support the History of Advertising Trust with their app to be used within the NHS. Sadly, dementia will have an impact on all of our lives in some shape or form, so it’s great to see new initiatives that support the wellbeing of patients living with dementia.”
With Ad-Memoire proving to be a valuable, versatile resource for patient care in hospital settings across East Anglia, HAT are looking to expand the reach of Ad-Memoire into more hospitals throughout the UK and are actively seeking hospitals and sponsors who would like to take part.
Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb, former Minister for Care & Support and longstanding and active campaigner for Mental Health, urges individuals and organisations to recognise the value of a reminiscence resource like Ad-Memoire:
“What a fantastic resource! Reminiscence is very powerful for people with dementia. These advertisements will be so meaningful for many people. I am excited that following successful trials, Ad-Memoire is having such a positive impact being used on wards at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and others in the region. This could bring joy to so many people across our county and beyond in care homes and in people’s own homes. I urge organisations to embrace this wonderful resource which also offers such a fascinating contribution to social history.”
Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb
At James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth, volunteers have been using Ad-Memoire on tablets to connect and converse with patients.
Dementia Befriender Rebecca Kennedy shares her first experience of using the resource:
“Ad-Memoire is a fantastic tool for us to use here at the hospital. My first experience of using it with a patient was when I showed this lady an old Persil advert of some children playing in the street. And her reaction was amazing. Her face lit up: ‘Yes I remember doing that. I remember playing in the street like that when I was a girl.’
“And that opened up the conversation and was really wonderful. I wanted to keep using it to get more reactions like that, so the patients could talk about their experiences and memories.”
Alex Kemp, Senior Occupational Therapist, gives his experience of using Ad-Memoire with patients at the Julian Hospital in Norwich.
As a Senior Occupational Therapist at Julian Hospital, I work with patients living with dementia and complexities in later life. Patients are referred here for an assessment because of challenging behaviour as well as self-neglect and it is our role to support decision making around their appropriate discharge destination. We see patients with varying levels of cognitive impairment, including those living at mild to advanced stages of dementia. Also patients that are living with Parkinson’s disease that impacts on memory and behaviours.
We use Ad-Memoire one-to-one with our patients and have found that it helps us to assess their ability by witnessing how they communicate, focus and see the world. We’re always trying to find things that can be used by people who have lower levels of communicative ability and reminiscence tools such as this can allow us to read their body language.
Our patients engage well with Ad-Memoire because it’s pictorial and in bite-sized chunks that hold their attention. Being able to use different interfaces also helps our patients use Ad-Memoire in whatever way that works for them – a tablet, if they are comfortable with that, or a TV screen if they find that easier.
There are some of the adverts that I don’t recognise, which gives patients the ability to share something with me. At a time when we are there to remind patients that they aren’t managing their short-term memory, it is nice to accompany that with an opportunity for them to exercise their long-term memory and teach us something – we are helping them and they are helping us with something too. The fact that Ad-Memoire is constantly updated regularly allows us to use it each week. I like the ‘Holidays’ and the ‘Motoring’ reels, and the food adverts are the ones patients seem to remember the most. I think anything related to work or DIY could be important additions to the resource.
Ad-Memoire’s project manager, Jane Jarvis, appeared on Future Radio’s ‘The Community Session’ to talk about vintage ads – and sing some of the jingles! – with host Mike Stonard. The full interview can be listened to below:
Project Manager, Jane Jarvis visited Leominster Meeting Centre to see Ad-Memoire in action as part of the activities offered there.
“It was so good to meet the visitors and share the memories the vintage TV ads stimulated – watching the Flash ad for cleaning windows prompted singing of George Formby’s “When I’m cleaning windows” and the ads for washing machines prompted many funny stories about the days of mangles!! – it was smiles and laughter all round!”
Dr Shirley Evans, trustee at Leominster Meeting Centre, shares her experience of using Ad-Memoire in the video below:
Leominster Meeting Centre is part of Meeting Centres UK which is funded by the National Lottery to establish Meeting Centres across the UK to help communities support people and families affected by dementia.
As Ad-Memoire: One to One launches around the country, Di and daughter-in-law Jan share their experience of using the resource together.
Di enjoyed the opportunity to: “spark some memories that I thought I’d forgotten all about. I really liked the one for hair perms because it made me remember sitting in a chair for hours with all wire things in my hair!“
Ad-Memoire has become an integral part of Tonbridge Cottage Hospital’s 1950s Vintage Tea Room, part of the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust. In the video below, Grahame and Fiona share their positive and innovative experience of using the resource:
Last September, we attended the grand opening of the Vintage Tea Room and witnessed Ad-Memoire in action.
Thanks to the Tonbridge Cottage Hospital League of Friends, Ad-Memoire will be available to patients for years to come!
Ad-Memoire 