While the past few months have brought unprecedented restrictions for all of us, life at Alderwood has by no means slowed down. Our much-loved residents have been as active as ever while we’ve been coming up with creative new home-based activities and alternative ways to stay in touch with loved ones.
We’ve all got involved in embracing new technology in order for our residents to connect with friends and family via virtual meet ups, while in-person visits had temporarily been put on hold. By now, the world has become very familiar with the various apps, from Zoom to Whatsapp, which have allowed multiple family members to dial in and video chat together with our residents.
In fact, we’ve found that friends and relatives have been able to stay in touch more than ever before thanks to this new technology. What a treat it has been to see our residents faces lighting up at the sight of their children and grandchildren. A truly touching experience.
With the absence of our regular visiting entertainers, we’ve had to create our own amusement at Alderwood and have been getting as crafty as ever. Not only have our residents been making everything from scratch, from baking sweet treats to growing our own fresh produce in the garden, they have also been creating some incredible window artwork. Inspired by the lockdown rainbow displays, our residents decided to paint a rainbow of miniature hearts on our windows to stunning effect!
All of these projects have provided endless creative inspiration and brought everyone together in these challenging times. In fact, it has helped to grow the community spirit within our home and I’m sure we will be keeping some of our new found entertainment going for months to come.
Of course, while our day trips have been momentarily paused, this simply meant we had to bring the outside celebrations to us, and so as the weather heated up we took the opportunity to host our own Mexican Garden Party and Hawaiian Hula Party – each complete with sombrero hats, grass skirts and lively music. Yes, even with social distancing restrictions in place, we have managed to stage a few special outdoor performances from our regulars, including Carly Hipson and Tony Myers, which has been so very much appreciated by all of us.
And we were all overjoyed when our very own central office sent over treats for our carers and resident to enjoy; one day it was an ice cream van, the next it was a surprise batch of lollipops and snow cones. We were even sent sensory packs of oils and creams designed to trigger beautiful memories. Such simple gestures to let us know we are, as ever, in their hearts and minds – they were greatly appreciated and went down a treat.