EachStep Community Integrated Care, Blackburn

Added on

What is EachStep Blackburn?

EachStep Blackburn was developed by Community Integrated Care ( CIC), a national charity.  It is a dementia care home that offers specialist residential, nursing, respite care to 64 people aged 50 years upwards.  Residents are predominantly state funded and there is a contractual arrangement with CIC and the council that does not allow for top up payments in the first operating year.

Building design

EachStep Blackburn is based on a ‘household model’ with interconnecting corridors so that people can engage more widely with other areas in the home.  It also allows staff to support people in an unobtrusive but targeted way. An average of one senior and three support staff meet the needs of each group along with volunteers. The model blends person-centered care with an environmental designed that supports people living with dementia to be as active and engaged as possible.

Access to civic life

The home has a cinema, vintage tea rooms, a hair and beauty salon, and a number of themed areas that are designed to support reminiscence and memory.  Some areas were designed with local groups such as Blackburn Rovers charitable trust who donated memorabilia for the football themed household and work with  football enthusiast to stay in touch with their hobbies. Mealtimes are café style and there are visual clues to support people to self direct to the places they may want to visit.

One page profiles

One page profiles and ‘My good day’ documentation helps staff to meet the needs of individuals on their own terms besides offering structured activities.

Community Circles

A key feature of the support is to help people stay connected with their interests, relatives, people and community in creative and meaningful ways.  To support this, CIC facilitates community circles Person A has a ‘poetry’ circle and the poems will soon be published.  Person B who has progressed into the final stages of their dementia, engages in their passion for dogs with regular visits into the home from the circle of dog owners.  The local primary school engages with bird enthusiasts.  A quarter of the people living at Each Step have a community circles.

Volunteer engagement

Blackburn has a vibrant and thriving Asian community and Each Step sits in the heart of its community surrounded by a housing estate and local facilities.  Blackburn’s South Asian community and the group ‘One Voice’ are actively engaged in the home and support CIC to meet the needs of people from that community and to support a vibrant and diverse experience for people living there.

.