Activities at Fordmill Care Home

Reminiscence is one of the many great things in working with the elderly.  And today was no exception as we combined World Photo Day with everyone’s shared experience – the good old school days.  As our residents mostly all have great grandchildren heading back to a new term at school, it made us all reminiscence of our own days in front of the blackboard.  Everyone enjoyed speaking about all the things that were liked and disliked about school, and what school year would they like to go back and revisit.  So, we decided to combine this discussion with our own Back to School class photos, and we even had our own teacher, Mrs Barchester to lead the class and make sure everyone behaved and smiled.  And we couldn’t let our residents off the hook completely, so we had some ‘lessons’ in the form of crosswords and wordsearches to aid in our conversations.  By the end of the session we were quite happy to say that everyone excelled and class was dismissed.

Our residents have fully embraced travel life at Fordmill, so much so that we have seen our small plane go from 2 rows of passengers, to a 4 row jumbo jet as we all strive for the experience of travelling without the jetlag!  This month we decided to celebrate the National Independence of India by inviting a fellow Barchester colleague to share her Indian culture and customs with ourselves.  Nagma kindly came on board with her son and sang us off with the Indian National Anthem, of which the residents were deeply moved by.  Whilst we watched some informative clips of Indian architecture and religion, we were then treated to traditional Indian tea and spiced rice puffs, traditionally gifted for the National Day.  Residents then put their knowledge to the test with a quiz on the country before our captain landed us safely back home.  An unforgettable experience, greatly added to by our guests of honour and one our residents will all cherish.

Fordmill Care Home in Montrose spent the day with St. Cyrus Nature Reserve Manager Therese Alampo to make use of their all-terrain Hippocampe chairs, giving residents the chance to explore the reserve and beach and even get in the water.

And joining them on their beach visit was none other than local MSP Mairi Gougeon who came to visit them in her capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands.  Residents Margaret Weir and Ronald Harris were overjoyed to speak to Mairi about visiting St. Cyrus beach, a trip they never believed possible again.  She was amazed at the Hippocampe chairs easiness on the sands and even took Margaret for a hurl.  Margaret said: “I have never visited this beach due to my poor mobility and never thought l would be here.  The girls surprised me with this visit today and we have just had a lovely picnic watching the birds and listening to the waves, it’s been incredible.”

The sun finally shone in our little town and the Fordmill Inn was opened, just in time for the fish and chips being served.  “You can’t beat fish and chips outside, listening to the gulls overhead” said one resident as they tucked into a hearty chippy.  Our gazebo has many uses over the summer months, but it really is something when we take a meal that residents enjoy throughout the month, and put them into a different setting.  There was lots of reminiscing about the fish supper; where was the best one they ever tasted, remembering the smell when their Dad came home with one to what sauce was better on it and who needs lemon on their fish.  It just goes to show that food and habitat go a long way to creating amazing memories.

Our residents have 5 star food to nourish their bodies, so we felt it only right to give them 5 star treatment to nourish their soul too.  It may be that a resident loves to get her nails done and used to get them done every other week, so we try our best to bring those routines to their stay with us.  However, not only does older routines help residents, trying something new or unwinding in a way that they haven’t tried before can have added benefits to their wellbeing.  So we opened the Fordmill Spa, a serene space where residents can choose from various beauty therapies, have a nice conversation or sit in peace in the calm surroundings where the ambience caters to allow the resident to think of only themselves and allow any anxieties or troubles to ease away.  Greta (resident) was happy to be the first resident to use the facility and was blown away by how peaceful she felt afterwards as she hadn’t ever had a treatment like it before and couldn’t believe she was experiencing it for the first time in her 80s.

Our residents always become enthralled when the Wimbledon season is underway, and so we thought what better way than to celebrate a sport that they are all so passionate about.  As with the typical British summer, we got rained off so the celebrations were moved indoors where residents played, 6 players versus 6 players to hit the balloon over the net.  Everyone had a little tester session with different sized and weight balls to see what they preferred, but the laughter that came with the balloon play was too enticing for them and certainly allowed the teams to get a little more competitive at rally’s.  We crowned a male and female champion and got entertained with residents coming out of their shell and realising they could have fun with a sport they hadn’t played before!  Staff joined in with Wimbledon dress and made a display of tennis balls from Wimbledon itself and even had a racket signed by a player which got all the residents talking about their favourite players over the years.  And of course, what afternoon at Wimbledon wouldn’t be complete without some fresh strawberries and cream with a glass of Prosecco.  That made it Game, Set and Match for everyone!