Some of us love the smell of bacon frying in the morning, and the aroma of coffee can begin to settle many before they even consume a drop.

The plush softness of a bath mat after a warm shower and creaming up the body with that lightly scented lotion don’t make you feel as if you’ve had a spa treatment, but imagine a life without them. This is the case for the 130 residents in the Continuing Care Department of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The institutional setting robs the residents of many sensory experiences most of us take for granted. Due to their special dietary needs most of their food is bland and lacks any aroma. Mashed or beaten the food also offers little variety in texture. The patients are confined indoors many are bed-ridden; they face the same surroundings each day with little change taking place. Over time this type of living deadens their senses and can result in a significant decline in their health. Stimulation of the brain is vital for good mental and physical health. Anything that significantly curtails the degree of this stimulation will impact negatively on a person’s health.

Capri Smith (pictured) is the Activities Coordinator in CCU; she has over 20 years of healthcare experience. She worked for 12 years at St. Brendan’s and was trained in using a sensory room to try and fill the sensory deficit of patients. When she moved to KEMH she said she felt strongly that such a room was needed for the patients in Continuing Care.

“When I looked at our population, I knew this was important,” Ms Smith said. “We are getting a large population of clients with dementia and Alzheimer’s. They have lost a lot of their sensory input and faculty. They need this type of stimulation.”

Michelle Gray is the Occupational Therapist for the department and said she also saw the need for patients to have their senses stirred. She learned about the formation of Snoezelen (sensory) rooms and enrolled in a four-day seminar in Canada to learn more.

On her return she and Ms Smith lobbied for funds and space to start such a room in their department.

“We had to wait for a room. It was difficult for us to get across the importance of this room to the needs of our clients,” Ms Smith said. “We get a chance to go home every day and face the stimulation of being in the outside world, they don’t.”

But perseverance paid off and a small Snoezelen room started a month ago, albeit with a small budget.

Snoezelen rooms are multi-sensory designed to stimulate touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. The room at KEMH has equipment that caters to all senses except taste. There are vials with different herbs like cinnamon and nutmeg and familiar scents like molasses.

“When I bring a client in here I may open this up and have them smell it and ask what it is,” said Ms Gray. “Most of them know right away that it is molasses and they enjoy that.”

The room is Christmas-like with a strand of seasonal lights on the floor, a small multi-coloured disco type light, a deep mirror with flashing lights around and a base with fibre optic strands that change colour. There is also a slow moving pink and blue image looking much like cells of the body that glides along one wall.

While the visual stuff struck me first, there are items and equipment to stimulate other senses. There’s a sandbox with lots of plastic animals a shovel and small pail, a long vibrating blue tube, feathers, various scented oils and perfumes.

Ms Gray and Ms Smith take residents to the room daily. “We get about eight people in every day,” Ms Gray said. “Each patient gets to be here at least once a week and for those who cannot get here, we take the trolley with sensory items to them.”

Patients are taken to the room in groups of three or four and usually spend about 20 to 25 minutes there. “It is recommended that they stay at least 15 minutes but no more than 45,” Ms Gray said. The patients are supervised but allowed to play with whatever they like.

“They naturally gravitate to different things. We see that Alzheimer’s patients gravitate to the fibre optics,” Ms Smith said.

Both women encourage the patients to discuss their feelings or whatever comes to mind when they are in the room. They said the sandbox often sparks conversation on the last time the patient went swimming and what is was like. “A lot of memories come out and a lot of reminiscing goes on here,” Ms Smith said.

“It may seem like this is a small thing but it is vitally important,” she added. “It is the simple things that can make a big difference.

The level of stimulation in the room can be modified to suit the patients that are using it. For example certain frequencies of the flashing lights can cause some patients to suffer a seizure. Lights can be completely turned off for patients who might feel overwhelmed visually.

In addition to simple sensory stimulation, the room is also used for behaviour modification. “Clients find it relaxing and for those who become frustrated or agitated bringing them here can help to calm them,” Ms Gray said.

And it is not only the elderly who can benefit from the new Snoezelen room. Ms Gray and Ms Smith agree that anyone with a sensory deficit or neurological disorder may benefit. This includes children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and autism, some patients with spinal injuries, and those with cerebral palsy.

To spread awareness on the room, its use and application, Ms Gray and Ms Smith have organised a few in-house presentations to staff in other departments. The women will also present to family of those resident in CCU.