A new year, a time for resolutions and positivity. With that in mind, we wanted to share with you an uplifting story about our new resident Bill.
New Year welcomes
We welcomed Bill to our home before Christmas. We learnt all about his life from lovely conversations as he settled in. These included that he served in the War in the Royal Armoured Corps and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.
Our administrator, Jo, emailed the MOD his story. They looked up his service records and have honoured him with a Veterans Medal and a heartfelt letter thanking him for his service. Jo’s son, Trooper Letch, is currently serving in the Household Cavalry. He visited Bill to personally give his thanks for his service and give him a beret. They spent time together sharing military stories and one of the regiment’s drinks called “Gunfire”. It was wonderful to see and Bill thoroughly enjoyed himself and was overwhelmed with gratitude. Moments like this make our roles in care so rewarding.
We have also welcomed back Matthew Cox as our interim home manager. Matt has for some time been working as home manager for our sister home in Worcestershire. He was instrumental at the start of COVID in securing PPE for our Heritage Manor care home group. He has an open door policy, is very engaging with residents and their families and strives for high levels of care, bringing enthusiasm, commitment, compassion and team camaraderie. It is great to have him back at the helm at Abberton.
Planning ahead
Having taken down the Christmas decorations, we have started creative art classes to brighten up the home with some residents’ artwork. Everyone has a real sense of contentment, having spent this Christmas time seeing family and friends and enjoying lots of merriment and all the festivities. Lord Albert – our cheeky elf of the shelf – brought much amusement!
We are relaxing into the New Year, but do have some plans afoot.
Residents are getting back into exercise sessions and we are also exercising our brains on 16th January taking part in Global Word Search Day. We are celebrating Burns Night on the 25th with Scottish themes and poetry. One of our residents has a huge poetry collection and we love to hear him read.
We are hosting an afternoon tea on the 27th January for International Chocolate Cake Day – any excuse! And we will mark Dignity In Action Day on 1st February. This is an important day for carers to highlight the importance of dignity in our roles and celebrate care services.