Activities at Derham House Care Home

Happiness starts with a wet nose and ends with a wagging tail Hudson the Bernese Mountain Dog returned to spread some joy and furry hugs to the residents. He is such a gentle giant and was very cheeky jumping up on the sofas to sit next to the residents. Animals offer unconditional love and companionship. Sometimes, they provide a level of companionship that people can't. One study has found that nursing home residents reported less loneliness when visited by dogs and other animals.

Derham House was turned into a beautiful sea of colour as we proudly supported Pride Month. The notice board had changed to an information board of some famous openly gay celebs and their struggles they faced to come out. We had Elton John, Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Dame Kelly Holmes, to the first footballer to come out since Justin Fashanu, Jake Daniels to Alan Turing the Nazi code breaker all of you are incredibly brave and Derham House proudly supports you. The staff also dressed for the occasion wearing pride colours but the highlight was seeing Hudson the Bernese Mountain Dog also dress up in his bright blue vest. Derham House always likes to support our diverse community.

Excitement has been running high at Derham House where residents and staff have been busy making Jubilee-themed decorations and baking up a storm of red, white and blue cakes and pastries with the help of head chef Dmitrij Saverskij in preparation for the Jubilee. Staff and residents at the home put their heads together and came up with a plan for their celebrations fit for a Queen.  Over the bank holiday weekend the home held a garden party with live entertainment with the lovely Joanne Lee, the very talented Faye daughter of our head of dementia unit who also sang some songs, her brother Nga who opened the show with a reading and Kat & Holly with their horses Star & Teddy, Luigi’s ice creams and our guest appearance was the newly elected Deputy Mayor of Havering Stephanie Nunn and the Consort Barry Mugglestone. The whole home came together to celebrate our longest reigning monarch and reminisce about what she means to each and every one of us.

Today Derham House took a trip to the call of the wild zoo in Chelmsford originally known as tropical wings. Interacting with animals on any level can be beneficial for both family caregivers and their elderly loved ones. According to research animals can help lower blood pressure and increase feelings of happiness and well-being in people of all ages. We saw colourful butterflies in the butterfly house to the playful meerkats to patting the donkeys. One lady her favourite was having a conversation with a parrot who wolf whistled her and as we walked away he said goodbye she was so happy. To end the trip we all sat down for a lovely ice cream. A fun day had by all.

Today at Derham House we welcomed Wild Science who provided Animal-assisted therapy. It has been proven that interacting with animals causes elevation to mood and increased energy levels, as well as promoting social behaviours and decreasing apathy and agitation. The presence of animals can trigger pleasant memories of past life experiences for example childhood pets.

Exotic animals are ideal visitors as they are usually very docile and predictable allowing for safe interaction and demonstration. Katie the instructor was very knowledgeable and had a variety of animals with her including a giant African snail a tree frog and a royal python and some with funny names like feet the millipede and mango the bearded dragon which has now had his name changed to mango chutney which one of the resident said and Katie really liked.

The Jobbers rest in St Mary’s lane Upminster was so welcoming making the gents feel very special the gents sat down to enjoy a Guinness, one gent was so happy that the half didn’t last very long and started singing for us!