10 Nov The lives of Portuguese Pharaon pilot participants through the seasons

Stimulate the body and mind

Every day at the Day Centres, there are activities and games designed to stimulate the body and mind. From board games to gymnastics classes to arts and crafts, older adults always have something to do and to challenge them. With this in mind, Pharaon partner Santa Casa da Misericórdia (SCMA) always tries to share the work that is done, and the Sentab social and monitoring platform is the way to do it, since it values the work of seniors and show the kind of stimulated activities that can be done in Day Centres.

Mornings devoted to technologies

With the arrival of tablets, as part of the Pharaon project, older adults’ interest and curiosity in technology increased exponentially, but along with it came doubts and questions. We’ve spent a few days helping older adults navigate through the tablets and the effect is what you see. Their mutual support has grown, as they help each other when in doubt and even introduce new games to each other, proudly showing how far they’ve come in each game.

The 2023 Summer Party at the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre

An event that took weeks to prepare, but when it arrived, it was a lot of fun. The Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre prepared a summer party, where everyone contributed to the decorations and, at the end, they even got to eat ice cream. As expected, the event was shared on Sentab, so that everyone could see the final result of something that had been in preparation for weeks and to show how important it was to everyone.

Civil Protection visit to the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre to talk about heatwaves

Over the summer, Civil Protection dedicated a morning to the theme of heatwaves at the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre. It was a session that sought to warn, but above all to prevent accidents during the hottest periods of the year. However, it was also interesting for the formal carers who were able to attend the day, given that much of the information provided was about prevention and care during these hotter times. That said, we thought it was important to publish this event in Sentab, to demonstrate to other professionals and older adults the importance of having sessions like this and to discuss subjects of this importance.

A morning at the beach

With summer coming to an end, we once again brought together the Casal da Mira and Rainha Santa Isabel day centres so that they could enjoy a morning at the beach and in the sun. Once again, mutual help was present between them, as they endeavoured to accompany and be close to those who had more mobility difficulties. It was a morning to remember, and one that helped improve the physical and mental well-being of the older adults. As not only the older adults need these moments of reflection and companionship, some of the formal carers from the Day Centres were also invited to take part in this different day. It was a day that was recorded in lots of photographs, which did not go unnoticed by our older adults, who immediately wanted to share their good day together in Sentab, so that other professionals could see how important it was.

As autumn arrives, so do new decorations

New season, new decor. Day centres are always looking to make their space more beautiful and welcoming. Whenever a new season arrives, all the decoration is rethought and created for the new cycle. With the arrival of autumn, the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre took advantage of materials that were going to waste and made an autumn tree. In order to share and give ideas to the other Day Centre, the new decoration was published on Sentab so that they could start to create the new decoration they wanted to give to their space.

A morning with a musical theatre at the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre

In October, SCMA was finally able to bring together the two Day Centres (Casal da Mira Day Centre and Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre), which had been interacting with each other via the Sentab app. This day was marked by a musical theatre session held at the Rainha Santa Isabel Day Centre. It was a session that brought back memories of the older adults’ youth, and it was a very lively and different morning. We couldn’t help but share this event on Sentab, as it was very important for the older adults to be able to enjoy a theatre together in group, for the first time.