Activities at Orchard House Care Home
Our home is always full of life, and we can thank our wonderful Activities Coordinators for this. Dedication to creating a unique and interesting activities programme is what sets us apart from other homes. We always take into consideration that some people would prefer to pursue their own interests, which is why our team strive to incorporative activities that cater to a wide range of tastes and hobbies. Our trips out are always fun and exciting as well, and residents are guaranteed to return with stories to tell their loved ones!
Katalin Schlepp
Hello, I’m Katie Schlepp, and my job as the Head of Lifestyle is more than a career; it’s my passion. Every day, I have the pleasure of enhancing lives and creating moments of joy for our residents. It’s a privilege to be a part of this community where we celebrate life in all its richness, from organizing engaging activities to fostering connections and ensuring our residents well-being, I’m dedicated to making every day extraordinary. Our residents happiness and comfort are what drive me, and I’m committed to ensuring that your time at Orchard House is nothing short of wonderful.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
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 Orchard House Care Home
Christmas Cake Competition
Our amazing Head Chef, Claire Daffern, has created this wonderful Christmas cake for our competition, which our residents thoroughly enjoyed eating afterwards! I’m sure you’ll agree the cake looks incredible and we hope to win the competition as Claire has such a talent!
November at Orchard House
This month has been a month of different celebrations, Armistice Day, a resident's birthday with family visiting and the start of the world cup. On Sunday 13th November we had Reverend Dozie from St Paul's Church visit us to conduct a service, he also brought a bugle player who played the Last Post beautifully. We are continuing to enjoy the World Cup with blow football and tabletop football, we were very pleased that England won 6-2 on Monday afternoon!
30 Years of Barchester
Excitement levels were through the roof at Orchard House as staff and residents celebrated their 30th anniversary!
To celebrate, Orchard House threw open its doors on Friday from 2pm until 5pm for a fantastic tea party with entertainment and everyone was invited!
The Orchards enjoyed Toni-Sue singing lots of favorite old-time songs that residents really enjoyed singing along to, and there was drinks and high tea for everyone to enjoy.
The Heat Wave
During this unprecedented heat wave, we have been taking extra measures to keep our residents cool.
Doors and windows throughout the home are open, which does provide some breezes through, and curtains are kept closed. They have cool bedding – sheets rather than duvets (unless they choose to have the duvet). We are ensuring that all the jugs in their rooms are filled with ice water and keep replenishing when emptied, and offering plenty of juice and squash. We are making sure that those that need assistance to drink are being offered fluids more often. Their meals are lighter and include yoghurts, ice cream, arctic roll (a firm favourite), and fresh fruit. They are offered fresh fruit throughout the day. They have been having ice lollies to help keep their hydration levels up. They have been enjoying choc ices. On National Ice Cream Day residents enjoyed delicious ice creams. Our Memory Lane residents are very lucky and have air conditioning in their communal areas. If the residents choose to sit in the garden we are ensuring they have hats and plenty of sun cream, and we have provided lots of umbrellas for shade for them. We are also looking after our staff. They have regular breaks, many of which are taken outside in the shade. The Home is providing juices and squashes for them. They are also enjoying the icy treats. Staff are also wearing cool t shirts and tops and cropped trousers instead of the usual uniform to help keep them cool, as they work extremely hard.
CQC 'Good' Rating!
Orchard House on the Isle of Wight, passed a recent Care Quality Commission inspection with an overall “Good” rating after being praised for a responsive, safe, effective, caring and well-led service.
The CQC inspected the home and rated the home, run by Barchester Healthcare, as “Good” overall. The inspectors could not find any areas within the home that caused them any concerns. They said that staff and residents had lovely relationships. The Management Team are so proud of everyone at the home, as they have all contributed to such a great result.
Communion
We are very lucky to have our local Vicar, Stephen Sutcliffe, visit us every month and hold a Communion for our residents. Stephen is so cheerful and positive, and his message is always one of peace and hope and love. The residents love his visits, and as word gets around the home, more and more residents are joining in.
He makes the sermons fun, and adores hearing our residents sing with joy in their hearts. It is certainly a high point every month.
