Activities at Laurel Bank Care Home

Our very own Activity Coordinator, Jamie, has recently been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Barchester Charitable Foundation. The BCF works tirelessly to support charities involved in the stimulation and engagement of elderly and disabled people, and gave £10,000 to Kendal-based charity ‘Vision of Adventure’ in January. Jamie is looking forward to working with the Foundation to help to reduce isolation and promote an active lifestyle amongst the elderly and disabled.”

Lucky residents Susan and Christine enjoyed an Afternoon Tea with Manager Lyndsay and Administrator Debbie recently, after winning the prize at our Summer Fair. Our Head Chef prepared a delicious selection of cakes and sandwiches and all of the ladies really enjoyed themselves- General Manager Lyndsay said “It was so nice to take time out from my busy schedule to spend some quality time with our Christine and Susan. I’ve enjoyed it so much that we’re going to do it again next month!”

A care practitioner at Laurel Bank in Lancaster has received a prestigious 15 Year Service Award in celebration of working at Barchester Healthcare for 15 years.

Lois Crowe, now a care practitioner, started at Barchester as a carer in September 2005 and has worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met over the years. Through her hard work, determination and caring nature, Lois was promoted to Senior Carer years ago and was recently promoted again after completing the Barchester Care Practitioner course, and now works alongside the nurses to support them. Lois is well-loved by staff and residents alike, and was very happy to receive a £250 gift card from Barchester in recognition of her achievement.

Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together at Laurel Bank Care Home to enjoy a Summer Fete that was held in the home’s grounds on Thursday 20th August.

Although families and friends of the home were unable to attend due to Covid restrictions, staff felt that the least they could for the residents after such a tough year was to throw a big party to celebrate the success of Laurel Bank over the past 6 months.

Laurel Bank hosted a variety of activities throughout the day, including a seaside sing-along, a Punch & Judy Show, beach picnic food including candy floss and ice cream, and a free promise raffle for all of the residents. The larger prizes involved promises from the different departments and staff members, including Afternoon Tea with the Manager Lyndsay Scott, a pampering afternoon with the Activity Department and a full Spring clean from the Housekeepers.

Staff at Laurel Bank in Lancaster were delighted when Lois Crowe and Rosie Hallat completed their training to become a Care Practitioner, a new role which will enable them to support nurses in the home.

The Care Practitioner role has been introduced by Barchester Healthcare, the organisation that runs the home, in order to further develop talented care staff and enable them to give more support to the nurses working at the home.

Lois and Rosie are the most recent staff members at the home to complete the course and they are already making a big difference to maintaining and developing its standard of care.

If only the gym was this much fun!   Resident’s thoroughly enjoyed a recent chair based exercise class at Laurel Bank when the parachute came out!  Making exercise fun encourages everybody to get involved and this certainly did the trick, with howls of laughter every time a staff member ran underneath the parachute. Keeping active and healthy is as important as ever at the moment, and the classes are always a good laugh!