Children from Alton Park Junior School have joined friends and family of residents at Edensor Care Centre for a party to officially launch the Tovertafel ‘Magic table’, an interactive light device which has been transforming daily life for residents in a new trial.

Staff at the Diagrama Foundation’s Orwell Road home, were offered the chance to pilot the new technology through the Essex Prosper Care scheme, in a bid to help reignite interest and social engagement for residents with dementia.

Muhammed Neeliyath, residential manager said: “We have only been trialling the magic table for a few weeks and already we have seen dramatic differences in the level of interaction this has encouraged.

“The moving images help to focus the mind of our residents, which brings benefits in two ways. For some of our residents it has produced a calming effect – dementia can often leave people confused and frustrated and the magic table is helping to combat that by providing people with something interesting and entertaining to focus on.

“It is also helping to break down isolation – another side effect of dementia – by bringing our residents together socially so they can enjoy each others’ company. It has been an amazing tool to bring families together too – communication can be incredibly difficult for relatives affected by dementia – the magic table is really helping everyone to enjoy their time together once again and create happy memories.”

Edensor is a 50-bed care home which strives to provide exceptional care, drawing on best practice from around the world. Staff at the home are also involved in a pioneering European project aimed to empower vulnerable people through art.

It is the first care home in the Clacton area to introduce this ground-breaking technology, which was designed specifically for use by people with dementia as part of the PhD research project of creator Hester Le Riche. T

he home regularly opens up its facilities and innovative activity programme to the wider community, in particular the young and the isolated elderly, to ensure as many people as possible can benefit from our work and care provided.

To find out more about the Edensor activity programme, including our free monthly pamper days for isolated elderly in the community, call 01255 423317 or email Edensor@diagrama.org