Case Studies

Ipse De Bruggen Case Study (Holland)

Ipse De Brugen in Holland offers different types of care to people with a range of abilities and needs.  Their aim is to provide the support and facilities to allow you to do the things you like to do, despite the challenges you may face.

One service they provide is long term care for people with profound and/or multiple disabilities. These clients need a high level of support in every aspect of their daily life including washing bathing and dressing.

The clients are showered daily on horizontal stretchers and the carers were reporting that the drying process was cold and unpleasant for the clients.   Carers were covering the client in towels – a minimum of one on each limb and one on the torso – to try to reduce the chills and spasms from being cold after the shower had stopped.  The drying process took a long time and was physically demanding as the client did not want to be dried with towels in sensitive areas and resisted stretching out limbs to assist.

Our first dryer had an incredible effect – as soon as the shower stopped, a horizontally mounted dryer above the stretcher was turned on.  This envelops the client in warmth from infra-red lights and then directs warm air across the body which dries the client in a matter of a few minutes.

This changed everything!  The cold and unpleasant experience changed into a warm and relaxing one that the clients were clearly all enjoying.  Some were showing states of relaxation that the carers had not seen in their day to day lives before.   Clients that were In permanent foetal positions with constant cramping stretched completely.  The carer just needs to roll the client on to the side and wipe away the stretcher underneath with one towel.

Aside from these many benefits and the increased dignity to the client, the institution found that this one dryer had saved them round £4,000 in the first year of operating in reduced laundry costs, and it was only being used for a group of eight people in one ward/ department.

These multiple benefits were echoed by all concerned – families of the clients, Ipse De Bruggen management, carers and physiotherapists.  They even made the national press!  

As a result of the positive effects on the clients and carers quality of life, Ipse De Bruggen have installed 10 dryers across 3 sites and have plans to order further dryers.