Sitting around a dining room table, four gentlemen calmly eat biscuits and draw.One carefully lifts a drink; the cup shakes in his hands as he raises it towards his lips.
They seem perfectly at home, but this is a highly specialised and secure section of Sunshine Hospital.
It's known as the Dementia Management Unit (DMU) and it provides care for dementia patients with challenging behaviour.
"We care for the patients that no one else can," Nicole Keogh, Aged, Cancer and Continuing Care Services Operations Manager explains.
"Most of our patients are referred to us by the Western Health wards because they are unpredictably aggressive or violent and have severe dementia with exacerbated Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD)."
The DMU team provides holistic, multi-disciplinary care that focuses on improving the patient's quality of life.
Last month it celebrated 20 years of care.
Approximately 3,000 patients have been cared for in the DMU, which began as a secure Geriatric Evaluation and Management (GEM) ward.
Carol Perich, who has worked in the unit as a Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) and Operations Manager, said that when it opened in 2001, a separate secure unit for dementia patients with challenging behaviour was a novel concept.
"It doesn't look like a hospital ward; patients have their own lounge room, a dining room and a secure internal courtyard, so patients who like to wander can do so safely," she said.
Divisional therapists coordinate activities like art and dancing.
The garden has been designed for patients with cognitive impairment.
It's sanctuary where patients can tend to the raised garden beds, have a family BBQ, or walk in a safe space.
Over the years, the DMU has evolved, but what hasn't changed is the commitment to providing patients with the best quality of life.
The support from the community also endures.
Working in the DMU is challenging, but also incredibly rewarding.
Four nurses have been with the unit for 20 years Jackie Taugofie, Philippa Kaye, Jessica Nazzareth and Susan Abdel-Sayed.
They draw satisfaction from helping patients and their families, who are often under extreme stress.
"Patients arrive after some sort of crisis, sometimes a carer has become unwell, or the patient has injured themselves and cannot be cared for on the wards," Carol said.
Some families can no longer care for their loved one at home and need to secure appropriate long term care.
Patients are often remembered by staff long after they leave.
"There was a patient who stayed with us for 130 days and I'll carry the memory of him with me for the rest of my life," Nicole said.
One minute he could be singing and the next, he'd violently erupt.
Every now and again she said she saw glimpses of his personality.
"We all became quite attached to him because we knew we were the only place that could provide him with the quality of life he deserved."
"We provide holistic care, it's not about looking at our patients as an illness, it's seeing them as a person who has psychological, physical, emotional and medical needs," Nicole said.
"It's the most satisfying job I have ever done and I know I'm not alone in that."
