Activities at Orchard House Care Home

Residents recently enjoyed a special treat receiving beautiful festive bunting with Christmas messages on it for their home, from the Children at Arreton Primary School.

Children, Freddie Clabon, Coco Tasker, Alice Newman and Lexi Barrett, from Elmer Class joined Head Teacher Mrs. Herbert in presenting Angela Harding Head of Lifestyle at Orchard House the specially designed bunting on Disability Day.

Residents also enjoyed Personal Christmas Cards from other children and are going to be treated to a live stream of the School’s Christmas Nativity Play and Carol Concert.

Kim Fleming said: “In these unprecedented times, and especially at Christmas ensuring residents feel engaged and connected within our local community is more important than ever. Our residents really enjoyed the beautiful festive Bunting which has pride of place in our Reception area". 

We are delighted to be supporting Age UK with hampers from Orchard House to be distributed to those who will be alone this Christmas, thank you to all the volunteers who support Age UK Isle of Wight, for more information click on the link on our Facebook page - @barchesterOrchardHouse.

Here at Orchard House we are getting ready for Christmas with the trees going up, the fairy lights twinkling and starting to see some presents gathering at the bottom! Are the Mince pies ready yet?  

Residents enjoyed an Arabian Nights event this week involving music, dance and a special middle eastern menu prepared by Mike our chef. Colourful scarfs brought the dancing to life with everyone joining in 

Residents are overjoyed at Orchard House care home as Barchester Healthcare has opened a dedicated indoor visiting suite for residents to continue to spend time with their loved ones during the winter season now outdoor visiting that has been on offer for those able for many months is less comfortable.

Balancing resident wellbeing and safety is at the forefront of Barchester Healthcare’s thinking and they understand how important it is for residents and their family and friends to be able to spend time together in the safest way possible.

There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment by Barchester Healthcare, who run Orchard House care home. It was welcome news for their residents and family and friends as we enter the colder season meaning catch-ups can continue to take place, in addition to Skype and Facetime calls for those further afield.

The designated visiting suite has been designed with both comfort and safety in mind, and has been recently adapted from a room which is accessible internally by residents and externally by visitors. The suite is similar to a living room with comfortable furnishings and heated to create a welcoming and warm environment for residents to continue to spend time with their loved ones in the upcoming months. The suite has an intercom system fitted so residents can clearly communicate, and engage in conversation, whilst being able to see their friends and family through a Perspex glass divider fitted for safety to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Kim Fleming, General Manager at the home, said: “The visiting suite has been a much welcomed development for our residents at Orchard House to continue to receive much looked forward to visits from their loved ones, as the weather changes. Visits are well organised, and a lot of safety measures have been put in place to keep everyone safe. It was wonderful to see how happy it made the residents and their relatives in a warm and cosy environment.”

Residents wanted to thank the local school children from Summerfields Primary School who sent lovely drawings and cards so they made ‘gratitude jars’ during a craft session. Angela delivered the jars together with resident’s favourite poems and personal thank you messages. If your school or nursery would like to support Orchard House especially this Christmas when things will be rather different to usual please contact our General Manager, Kim Fleming. We would love to hear from you!