Whanganui Hospital has new tools to help soothe dementia patients - including a fake cat.
The "cat" is curled up on its bed on the medical ward front counter when visitors arrive looking "tired and worried and concerned".
"As soon as they see that, it's just such a lift," ward clerk Colleen Bunker said.
The robotic cat breathes slowly and purrs, and has been quite the hit with those coming through the ward.
Two more pets - a fake dog and another cat - are kept in the ward itself for dementia patients to stroke or sit with, something clinical nurse manager Colleen Hill said is helping bring up old memories.
"We've found this little fellow appeals to people who used to be farmers," Mrs Hill said, pointing to the dog. "I guess the really heartwarming thing is the stories that we're getting ... one man started talking about his farm dogs and what their names were."
The introduction of the pets is one of the ideas brought in by the hospital's health care assistants (HCAs), who have been leading a project designed to improve the care of cognitively impaired patients.
"We have growing numbers of patients who require close observation to keep them safe during their stay in hospital and how we do this has a significant impact on their recovery," Mrs Hill said.
"The HCAs have led the work to modify the care delivery for people with cognitive impairment and as a result of their ideas and suggestions we now have training and a workbook to guide them and to help orientate new HCAs."
Some of the new approaches to dementia care involve engaging more with family members or carers to understand a patient's background and personality better, and bring these aspects into their treatment.
"It's engaging with them to see what's normal for their loved one ... they've got this background knowledge, it actually makes it relevant to the patient. It individualises their care."
As well as getting to know patients in this way, the HCAs have brought in different tools and items to help soothe or engage patients.
One of these is a large, clear pouch of liquid with foam shapes inside. There is also a pipe tree patients can put together, a magnetic puzzle, cards and checkers, stress balls, and watercolour paint boards which fade after a couple of hours and can be used again.
"We had a patient who was very agitated and aggressive," Mrs Hill said. Through talking to family and carers, an HCA discovered the man used to be an artist, so they got him to use the paints.
"He was like, 'wow, I'm painting'. He had them all lined up around his bed."
They also had things such as folders with old photos of Wanganui, and an arm muff called a twiddle cat, which could be put on patients when they tried to pull lines out of their arms.
Ideas for new approaches are still being brainstormed, as the project is only just beginning.
"For me, the biggest thing has been preserving the dignity of these patients. We're getting these stories, we're getting to know them. One of the first losses with dementia and deliria is the loss of dignity, but if you can give them that empathy it really reinstates that dignity and sense of identity."
Mrs Hill read from one of the HCA diaries speaking about an elderly man who was calling for his wife and daughter. The HCA began talking to him about his two farm dogs and horse named Skipper.
"He smiled when he talked about his pets," she read from the diary. "I gave him the soft dog from the trolley to stroke."
The cat and dog do not have names, as each patient likes to refer to them as something different.
Mrs Hill said the HCAs were driving the new approaches to dementia care, and commended them for their enthusiasm and leadership.
"It's an excellent example of how staff at all levels can lead change and improvement within the health sector."