A snooze room for elderly

A specially designed room to provide multi-sensory stimulation and therapy, the Snoezelen room, opened on Tuesday, has until now been used to help autistic children.

The Snoezelen Room at the Community Centre for the Elderly in Al Mamzar. — KT photos by Rahul Gajjar

The room offers therapy to elderly residents and visitors at the centre who are coping with various conditions including poor memory, irritability, agitation and cognitive impairment.

Dr Ahmad bin Kalban, CEO of Primary Healthcare at the Dubai Health Authority, said: “The room was developed keeping all the latest techniques in mind.”

The concept of Snoezelen was introduced by two Dutch therapists in the 1970s and is currently being used throughout Europe. The name is a contraction of the Dutch words “to explore and relax”.

The room is used throughout the world to help autistic children and adults and in recent years, it has been known to aid elderly patients as well.

Plans are afoot to include sights and sounds that reflect the Emirati culture to make the residents feel more at home.

This room is the first-of-its-kind in the region in any government centre for treating elderly patients, said Dr Salwa Al Suwaidi, geriatrician and director of the centre.

“The room incorporates soothing music, aromatherapy, different lighting options that patients can explore,” she explained.

“The highlight of the room is a hydrotherapy massage bed which has been appreciated by elderly patients. The bed provides head-to-toe massage and, at the same time, the reflexologist provides hand and foot therapy.”

Dr Al Suwaidi added that recent studies have shown that the use of this room helps relax patients to an extent where they can cut down on the calming medicines they are dependent on. “If we can achieve this, then I would consider it to be a significant positive development. It’s a new technique and we are glad that the elderly patients have appreciated and accepted it.”

The Elderly Centre was established in 1993 and currently has 30 inpatients. It also hosts another 50 people who come into the centre for medical treatment and temporary residence.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com