A gift of calm for dementia patients

Therapeutic chair comforts Mackenzie Place residents with gentle movement, sensory stimulation

Story by Lisa Laferriere

GRANDE PRAIRIE — If you visit the Enhanced Care Unit (ECU) of the QEII Ambulatory Care Centre, you’ll come across a new piece of furniture. In a quiet, dimly lit room, decorated with colourful landscapes and a gently bubbling fishtank, you’ll find a new chair.

But it’s not just any chair.

It’s the Wellness Nordic Relax Chair, a highly specialized piece of therapeutic equipment that encourages relaxation through gentle movement and sensory stimulation. Designed with dementia patients in mind, the chair uses rocking, vibrating and swinging motions to promote a sense of well-being.

“Dementia is a very disorienting illness,” says Claire Richter, a recreation therapist with Alberta Health Services (AHS) on the ECU. “Think of how you feel when you lose your keys … that kind of panicked, anxious feeling you have. That’s how dementia patients feel a lot of the time.”

For people with high anxiety due to dementia, Richter adds that true relaxation can be almost impossible to achieve.

She first encountered the Wellness Nordic Relax Chair when she was invited to trial it at a showcase event at the Hythe Continuing Care Centre. She travelled there with one of her ECU residents, who lives with early-onset dementia.

“This resident is on a lot of pain medications, and it’s hard for her to get comfortable,” says Richter. “But once we got her into the chair, it was incredible.”

Most users sit in the chair for up to a half hour or so, but Richter’s resident stayed content and relaxed for more than 45 minutes.

“Typically, she’s non-verbal,” adds Richter. “But when she was in the chair, she was able to answer yes-or-no questions verbally. We were able to have fluid conversations with her that we hadn’t had in probably months leading up to that point.”

Seeing her patient experience so much relief brought Richter to tears. She became determined to obtain the wellness chair for her unit — but with a price tag of more than $15,000, it was out of reach of the ECU’s regular equipment budget.

So Richter reached out to the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation for help, and within weeks of submitting an application for funding, her request was approved.

The chair has been in use at the ECU since September, and Richter sees daily the difference it’s making for residents.

“It touches my heart to see them finding release and calm, or feeling a connection,” says Richter. “We have so many residents with communication difficulties. But using the chair, we see connections happen, and it’s amazing.”

Reclined in the wellness chair with a weighted blanket, body pillow and soothing music, residents achieve a sense of calm that so often eludes people living with dementia.

“We’re very grateful to the Grande Prairie Hospital Foundation for their generous support,” says Joanne Ball, care manager of the ECU with Assisted Living Alberta.

“The donation of funds for the Wellness Nordic Relax Chair — like all donations — makes a positive difference in the daily lives of clients and staff. This gift helps us enhance our care by providing additional comfort and connection for clients.”

“Dementia is such a difficult illness,” adds Richter.

“Most people only see the negative side of that. But I feel so blessed in this job to be able to see the positives — the connections, the gratitude that our residents can still express. You can see them thriving.”

For more information about the Enhanced Care Unit in Grande Prairie, contact Mackenzie Place. Learn more about the Grande Prairie Hospital Foundation.