Jane Hewitt who has dedicated her life to supporting people living with dementia, is Assistant Manager at Marrow House Residential Care Home, a Stoke City Council-run home which features a specialist dementia care unit.
Jane scooped The Dementia Carer Award at the Great West Midlands Care Awards in 2018 and went on to represent her region at The National Finals in March this year.
Residents were able to join in Jane’s success when they were recently visited by local Lord Mayor Lilian Dodd who congratulated her on the award.
“This is an outstanding effort and we are very proud of Jane,” said The Lord Mayor
“Her dedication to her work and the people she cares for has been rightfully recognised by this award.”
Marrow House provides accommodation and support for up to 28 older people who have a diagnosis of dementia, with 16 of the beds provided for residents requiring respite care.
The service provides rehabilitation to maximise independence, autonomy, choice, control and potential for people to return to their home and community. This includes assessed risk taking to enable people to return home safely aswell as confidence building, boosting self-esteem and supporting family carers.
Jane and her team aim to enable people to live well with dementia for longer, and to provide a measurable improvement in quality of life for people with dementia.
“For those not able to return home we will continue to work with them to support the transition to extra care or residential care,” says Jane.
“It’s important to us that wherever our service users go after leaving Marrow House they continue to live well with dementia for longer.”
In her role Jane strives to improve the quality of life of all service users by generating wellbeing. She is passionate about developing Life Biographies for individual service users, which have helped to develop person-centred therapeutic activities.
“The Life Biographies ensure people engage in a positive and active day,” says Jane,
“This can aid good sleep through natural tiredness, satisfaction and reduced anxiety.“
Working closely with other health professionals Jane ensures her knowledge and skills are continuously kept up to date. The team have also worked hard to develop links with the local community, especially the local primary school, to promote positive opportunities and experiences for the children and the people using the service.
“There are many benefits to spending time with the children,” said Jane.
“It increases wellbeing and helps the children to improve their understanding of people living with dementia.”
Commenting on her award Jane said: “It was a really proud moment for me but very much represents a dedicated team effort at Marrow House.
“As I reflect on the past nine years, some of my proudest achievements have included supporting individuals and their families to enable them to return home, sometimes against the odds. This is achieved through strong working relationships and integrated working.”
