Activities at Arbour Court Care Home

Congratulations to Ludi Caballero, who has been named as a Divisional Winner in the 2020 Barchester Care Awards. Ludi is a finalist in the Carer of the Year category and has been invited to attend a virtual awards ceremony on 8th October, where she will find out if she has won overall.

Arbour Court care home, in Marple, has been selected for a press launch to celebrate Poems in a Pandemic which is a poetry and art competition for frontline social care and support staff. The idea behind the competition is to capture people’s thoughts, feelings and experiences of caring for others during the COVID-19 crisis so their experiences and stories can be shared.

The Press Launch took place on 7th July, this was to help highlight the Poems in a Pandemic competition and there were some short presentations and a Question & Answer session so viewers could understand more about the competition.

Staff and Residents enjoyed an afternoon of wine and poetry reading including the poem “She wasn’t alone” by Chloe Booth (Activity Coordinator at Arbour Court) that was chosen for the Press Launch.

For some residents at Arbour Court the long awaited reunion with family and friends became a reality recently, as garden visits have now been allowed to commence at the home.   There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment behind the scenes at Barchester Healthcare, who run Dovedale Court care home. Social distancing was still in place, and homes that are able to take part must have a large accessible garden.

It was welcome news to so many residents, family, and friends, who were kept apart for so long following strict government guidance. Kelly Tatton, General Manager at the home, said: “This has been a much welcomed development in what have been very strange times. The visits are safe and organised, and it was wonderful to see how happy it made the residents. We will of course endeavour to keep up the high standards of care, and continue with our ever evolving life enrichment programme, to keep residents engaged. But this was a lovely day.”

The staff at Arbour Court were delighted to receive a wonderful personalised gift from Katheryn from Knitted with Love who had created and send in knitted mini figures of the homes staff team.

On behalf of Arbour Court, colleagues would like to pass on their gratitude for being considered at this time of uncertainty and hope everyone stays safe and well.  Such a nice gesture thinking of us care homes and everyone joining forces to keep the community spirit together!

As residents begin to enjoy small social distance group activities, laughter could be heard throughout the home as they enjoyed a game of ‘musical’ bingo and everyone was a winner!

Residents had great fun playing musical bingo, listening and singing along to many old time favourites by ‘the King’ and  finding the matching song name on the card. Everyone had such a laugh and they lost their way at times as  they were singing too much.

Residents at Arbour Court have been hard at work creating postcards to send to their loved ones as a surprise. A small knitted heart and poem were sent with each of the postcards.  The idea behind the touching gift home is each resident has their own hear and their loved one has a matching one with them.

Residents have also been making use of skype and facetime so that they can video call their relatives – although some weren’t too sure about the new technology!    Activities Coordinator, Clare Booth said “It is vitally important that we ensure that our residents can remain in contact with their family and friends during this time. This is a really sweet idea and thank you to ‘knitted with love’ for all our hearts”