‘World’s first’ dementia friendly barber visits Cavan
Even after Lenny White became a successful marketing consultant, the Northern Irish man couldn't shake the feeling that his time spent working and engaging with dementia patients had given him his most important sense of "what mattered".
And so, almost 20 years after last working as a teenager, Lenny returned to the care home setting, this time with a barbering qualification in hand and a newfound purpose.
That was almost six years ago and today he's hailed as the 'World's First' dementia friendly barber.
Lenny arrived at Cavan's Castlemanor last Saturday, June 11, but it could just as easily have been any other part of the country, or even globe, such is the demand for his unique set of talents.
It was a friend of Lenny's who mentioned to him there was a salon in the care home for the female residents, but there was no equivalent facility for the men.
"I decided to do a men's day," says Lenny looking back wistfully. Little did he know it would change the entire trajectory of his life going forward.
After learning about Lenny, the Alzheimer's Association of Ireland soon got in touch and put him on a Dementia Friendly course to hone his skills and improving his understanding of working with people living with the condition. At Castlemanor, and wherever Lenny goes, he packs a variety of classic barber shop accoutrements including an old-fashioned barber’s pole. He fills the room with sensory smells such as Old Spice and lemon-scented cologne that evoke a certain era. He then busies himself with a steady stream of clientele to a backing track of oldies such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley.
A wealth of research exists that suggests patients with dementia respond well to sensory stimuli, especially things familiar from their youth such as songs, smells and even visual cues.
Each of the men who arrive in Lenny's chair soon leave with a dapper new haircut and an old-fashioned hot towel shave.
Lenny chats as he clips, and remarks: "They love it."
He adds: "I'm trying to create an experience for them - one that's familiar. It's also getting the men together, because in a care home people can often be quite spread out, so it becomes a social event as much as anything else."
Along with making TV appearances, Lenny travels with his barber pole across the Atlantic to New Jersey once yearly, where he and a portable jukebox full of traditional Irish songs set up shop and cut the hair of members of the diaspora.
Lenny, from Millisle on the Ards Peninsula in Co Down, notes that the experience of getting their hair cut rekindles fond memories for each of the men, but it also provides each with an important sense of dignity.
"It's about creating an environment as much as providing a service. When I do this, and it may seem only a small thing to some people, but I know that I’ve made a difference in the lives of this men. It may only be half an hour or so, not even that, but I find that that half-hour will set them up for the rest of the day. Not only do they feel good about themselves but they look well as well."