30th January 2025
Nightingale House hosted a seminar on ‘Social Connectedness in Care Homes: From Research to Practice’ from The Brighton and Sussex Medical School. This seminar was aimed at geriatricians, doctors, researchers, social care professionals and the public. We heard talks from a range of speakers from around the world including:
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Dr Khalid Ali (Reader in Geriatrics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School)
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Clemence Muchingaguyo (Registered Manager, Nightingale Hammerson)
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Nuno Santos Lopes (Director of Research & Innovation, Nightingale Hammerson)
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Helen English (Associate Professor in Music, University of Newcastle, Australia)
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Helen Simmons (Senior Charity Executive)
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Professor Desmond O’Neill (Professor of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin)
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Professor Avram Mark Clarfield (Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, Centre of Global Health; Chair, National Council on Ageing, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem)
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Professor Robert Abrams (Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA)
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Professor Owen Lewis (Professor of Psychiatry in Medical Humanities & Ethics, Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, USA)
From hard research data to poetry, speakers blended different topics that raise the importance of staying connected to improve the wellbeing of the older population. To host such an international group of speakers led to a common understanding that social connections are a basic human need and should not be underestimated when planning for someone’s care, wherever people are in the world.
“As the population ages and the use of technology increases, the fantastic panel of international speakers offered the evidence that social connections need to be at the centre of the care provided to older people living with care needs.” Nuno Santos Lopes, Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement.
