Activities at Kernow House Care Home
Our Activities Coordinators organise varied and regular events. The activities that take place depend on what our residents tell us they are interested in and the feedback we get from their families. We currently have pop-up cafes where we socialise and maybe visit the hairdresser. We have regular live music events, a storyteller and visits from animals and we are often joined by families or friends during our social activities where they are always most welcome.
Living in Cornwall the surrounding countryside offers many beauty spots and we often have trips out to wherever our residents would like to go. At other times a walk to nearby shops or cafes is what we enjoy.
Louise is our hairdresser and she is with us twice a week. Louise also supports us during our weekly Namaste sessions where she offers hand massages in a relaxing environment. Every Thursday afternoon we have a time of worship supported by our local community. Our ice cream van, Kernow Kones, and our mobile pub, Kernow Keg, also make a weekly appearance. We have monthly clubs, when we play bingo or watch a film in our pop-up cinema. Residents on all units are invited to take part in a monthly Resident’s Meeting and they tell us what they would like.
Apart from these regular events, we also celebrate special occasions and often have musical entertainers to visit but we also make our own fun. All staff take part in fancy dress or charity events that we support and often what we do evolves through interaction between residents and care or activity staff. All this makes Kernow House a vibrant place to be where things happen both as group activities as well as on an individual level.
Bea Porup
Bea has many years of experience working in elderly care and both experience and training in dementia care. She has also worked extensively with people with Huntington's disease. Bea works closely with Sue, Jackie and our management team, nurses, carers and kitchen team to ensure our home has a vibrant environment with lots of events happening and varied opportunities for having both new and familiar experiences, making sure the people living here lead a rich and fulfilling life.
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Kernow House Care Home
Flower Arranging
To mark International Flower Day, we did some flower arranging.
A group of residents got together to create displays of beautiful flowers for the home. We also planted the indoor garden, which is really a wheelbarrow, with spring flowers, so now we are waiting to see the little daffodils flower to remind us that spring is on its way.
We know how much pleasure flowers can bring and if you are not able to go outside to enjoy them, we bring them indoors.
Zoo Lab
We had our first visit to the Zoo Lab when Emily, the ranger, brought exotic animals in for us to see, touch and hear about.
We learnt about Gary, the giant snail, Slinky, the giant millipede, Tank, the giant forest scorpion, Lenny, the corn snake, Dandelion, the leopard gecko and Jelly, the white tree frog.
Residents tell us they like having animals visiting us, and it was a special treat seeing these exotic animals. Everyone agreed it was a fantastic experience and we learnt a lot.
Table Tennis
We are the proud owners of a full-size table tennis set. During residents' meetings, we asked residents if there is anything they would like to buy with money donated to the Residents' Fund.
A table tennis table was suggested and seconded by other residents. It is here now, and we have had a good time playing. It turns out, there are many skilled table tennis players amongst us and some are very competitive.
When we finished playing, we folded the table up and put it away, but it is very easy to set up again, so the challenge is on for anyone who fancies a match.
Christmas Carol Service
It was time for our Christmas Carol Service. We have a tradition for having our carol service by candle light and this year was no exception.
Staff, residents and relatives got in the Christmas spirit by inviting special guests from the community to come and join in with a carol concert and sing some festive Christmas favourites.
The singing was led by Ruth Dymond and the service by Revd. Mary Williamson and Bill Roberts. Revd. Mary Williamson and Ruth Dymond are among the people who support residents at Kernow House with their spiritual needs throughout the year and it was lovely being able to share this time with them.
Cllr Deputy Mayor Nicola Gilbert was a specially invited guest and she came along with Cllr Margaret Young. We had a lovely afternoon followed by home made mince pies and mulled wine.
Reindeer Visit
There was huge excitement at Kernow House as Ted and Rudy came by to visit the residents. They are both reindeer and Rudy is Rudolph’s grandson.
Staff and residents had a wonderful time learning about the very friendly reindeer from Enchantment Cornwall finding out about their habits and what they like to eat.
Several of the residents got to touch the reindeer and we learned, that it is lucky to touch a reindeer’s nose and if you manage to do it, you get a special wish.
Reindeer are natural foragers and would normally eat moss, ferns, grasses and leaves and they found the grass in their enclosure at Kernow House delicious.
Carrots are kept for a special treat at Christmas. We enjoy having animal visits at Kernow and we recognise the huge therapeutic value it has, but the visit from the reindeer was extra special at Christmas time.
Decorated Cakes
The Christmas cakes we made earlier have been decorated.
Barchester have regular competitions and we also enjoy having in-house competitions. The Christmas Cake competition is one of them.
Every kitchen get a cake to decorate and everyone in the home have a chance to vote for the one they like to most. The winning cake is the one with the robins and it was made by Millaton.
They won a tub of sweets. The other cake was made by our chef and both cakes have entered Barchester’s Christmas Cake competitions, where we will be up against all the other homes.
We are already eating the cakes and they are delicious.
