Activities at Southerndown Care Home

Our residents wanted to share some Christmas good-will and asked our chef to cook a batch of his delicious chocolate cookies to share with some of our friends in the local community, as a big thank you for their support and hardwork throughout 2020.

Our home manager Ela, took time this week to hand deliver our baskets of joy to Stephanie at The Baptist Church #ChippingNortonBaptistChurch and #OSJCT The Orders of St John Care Trust Elder Care in Chipping Norton.

We hope you enjoy the fresh fruit and cookies.

On Thursday 10th December, our General Manager Ela was pleased to take receipt of a package from the students of St Mary’s C of E (Aided) Primary School in Chipping Norton.

Today we were able to open and share the beautiful hand crafted Christmas Cards with our residents. They enjoyed reading each one, and were amazed at how wonderful they looked, so much so they asked us to decorate one of our trees with them all.

We also loved listening to the children singing on the CD they recorded for us to singalong too.

Christmas Jumper Day 2020 took place on the 11th December, and the staff and residents at Southerndown didn’t disappoint! All donations will go to Save the Children such a wonderful cause and we have a fantastically fun day #BarchesterTogether #SaveTheChildren.

We were so pleased to receive a visit from ‘christine & Christopher' earlier today; the son and Daughter-in-law of one of our They surprised us and arrived bearing 'Christmas Gifts of Kindness' to be shared with the hardworking team here at Southerndown.

We all THANK YOU so much, and wish you both well for a Wonderful Christmas.much loved residents.

Our experienced and enthusiastic maintenance team have built the stable and our wonderful residents had great fun choosing the mannequins, their wigs and the clothes each should wear to depict the special group joining together to meet baby Jesus.

The life-size nativity is in our garden courtyard visible from the Worcester Road as you walk or drive by. There was great excitement throughout the home when the scene was set and assembled. Our Resident Ambassador ‘Carole’ helped with the grand reveal and ribbon cutting to officially open our display for all to enjoy.

We welcome passers-by to view and comment on our Facebook page. Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wise men have already been visited by a passing ‘goat’ and two wooden reindeers have come to stay.

Our residents and staff would love to know if you’ve taken the time to stop by; post your selfie here and we’ll add to our home notice board for all to see. Big thank you to local friend of the home; Rob Kemp for donating the gorgeous Reindeers.

The residents at Southerndown are overjoyed, as Barchester Healthcare has implemented an indoor visiting suite for them to continue to spend time with their loved ones in the upcoming months, in addition to the outdoor visiting that has been on offer.

There has been much careful planning and preparation for this moment. The 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 room is similar to a living room with comfortable furnishings, and heated to create a welcoming and warm environment, and 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.

Infection control protocols and safe social distancing are in place for every visit, including a hand sanitizer station before entry. Cleaning at Southerndown care home will take place after each visit to ensure chairs, seats, hard surfaces including windowsills, and the Perspex glass divider are wiped down appropriately.

Ela Solomon, General Manager at the home, said: “The visiting suite has been a much welcomed development for our residents at Southerndown to continue to receive much looked forward to visits from their loved ones, as the weather changes. Alongside the continued offer of outdoor visiting; which includes a newly installed Barchester visitor ‘pod’ the indoor visiting suite visits are well organised, and a lot of safety measures have been put in place to ensure they are covid secure. It was wonderful to see how happy it made the residents and their relatives in a warm and cosy environment.”