Leef Independent Living Solutions takes pride in helping people to discover what’s possible. They focus every day on bringing their passion for customer care and finding solutions to help ensure that everyone can live their lives on their own terms and in their own right
Respecting the choices and preferences of all individuals, the team at Leef will try to find solutions to even the most complex of care and functional needs so that individuals and families can live the best lives they can and in the in the way that they choose.
Led and supported by an incredibly experienced and passionate leadership team and service delivery team and equipped with a distinct approach to changing the perception of ageing and disability in Australia, Leef believes that every day on earth should add to who we are and how we live.
We are continually researching and implementing activities to enhance the daily experience of those in our care.
The Tovertafel (Magic Table) is an example of an activity that achieves multiple beneficial outcomes in addition to the primary design purpose of “creating moments of happiness for people living with dementia”.
Designed for people living with dementia, the innovative and sought-after Tovertafel projects playful interactive games onto a table. The games feature colourful objects such as flowers, leaves, balls, bubbles etc. using infrared sensors, objects are moved by players responding to even small hand movements. The activity engages participants at their level, with no specific language or skills needed, no right or wrong, with a suitable pace of movement and with predictable outcomes creating a positive sense of accomplishment.
The interactive Tovertafel brings staff and residents together in such a positive way with people engaging at their own level, and with eight or more people able to play simultaneously, the Tovertafel provides activity for many residents at the one time.
The benefits are many and often unexpected. The Leef team notice broad benefits in facilities with members from different therapeutic roles reporting improved positivity and success in their job role as well as the social, physical and cognitive benefits observed in residents.
Social benefits
Patients become more aware of those around them carers, other residents, and family. Participants laugh, reminisce and discuss what they are experiencing and seeing, and competitive spirits resurface as turn taking and awareness of others is noted, often unexpectedly.
Physical benefits
The structured play provides “incidental” exercise improving leg strength, trunk stability, weight transfer and reach, as well as promoting deeper breathing. People readily play Tovertafel for extended periods, beyond what they would tolerate of an exercise or “walking” program aiming to maintain independent mobility, or upper limb movement and coordination.
Physiotherapists and occupational therapists love the benefits of the accompanying physical activity undertaken in a Tovertafel session and are able to set up the games to promote the movement aspects they are seeking to improve. In addition, the Tovertafel is a facilitator of very positive multigenerational family visits.
Cognitive benefits
With participants engaging at their own level, the games use aspects of planning, sequencing, old memories – counting, singing, tunes, sounds and pictures stimulating reminiscence and storytelling – and residents and carers find out things about each other stimulating connection and positive interaction.
Lifestyle and care team members can utilise and enjoy the Tovertafel across all residents – from high functioning people (who will still think it is fabulous fun) to those with advanced dementia. Game choice, and the structuring of the mode of play and assistance provided can be altered to suit a very wide audience.
Leef exclusively distributes an expanding range of interactive technologies including the Virtual reality system RENDEVER, the Ageless Innovations interactive COMPANION PETS and inmuRELAX & inmuDANCE.
