Avon Court, St James’ Park, Chandlers Ford, The Westbury, Brompton House, Pennwood Lodge and Market Lavington HC-One Care Homes welcomed visitors and guests from their local communities across the South West to participate in this year’s Care Home Open Week celebrations from 26th June to 2nd July 2023.
The homes were delighted to open their doors to celebrate Care Home Open Week with Residents, Colleagues, friends, family, and their local communities, including local MPs and Mayors.
Care Home Open Week is a national event hosted by Championing Social Care, designed to connect care homes with their local communities. The week provided care homes with the opportunity to showcase what they have to offer, their fantastic facilities, activities and services, and to remind their neighbours that they are there if they need support.
Across Thursday 29th June and Friday 30th June, each care home hosted a variety of fun filled activities, entertainment, and refreshments which were enjoyed by all, including a craft stall which was stocked with creations from the Residents and magnificent cakes made by kitchen Colleagues.
Residents and Colleagues of St James’ Park enjoyed meeting the Bridport Town Mayor, Dave Bolwell and his wife Bridget Bolwell, who admired the display of art made by Residents, and enjoyed greeting them and their families, as well as the dedicated Colleagues at the home.
Mihaela Barbulescu, Care Home Manager at St James’ Park, said:
“Care Home Open Day is an opportunity for care workers across the UK to showcase the best of the sector and for us to share what we are blessed with seeing every day. We’d like to say a thank you to the Mayor and Mrs Bolwell for attending our home and sharing their time with us.”
Visitors from the local council, Liz Alstrom and Maureen Lloyd, attended the celebrations at Avon Court which consisted of a live singer called Shannon, and a delightful afternoon tea.
Lyn Neate, Wellbeing Coordinator at Avon Court, commented:
“Care Home Open Day was such a positive day, the team worked hard and Residents thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”
At Chandlers Ford, in Eastleigh, Steve Brine MP for Winchester and Chair of the House of Commons cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, attended the Care Home Open Week celebrations. Also in attendance was Kirsten Scott who is from the Prince’s Trust, she dedicated much time going into depth around how the charity contributes to society, while Steve was immersed in meaningful conversation regarding health and social care to both Residents, Relatives and Colleagues.
Jim Bowie, Manager at Chandlers Ford, remarked:
“It was great to be able to open our home to the community during Care Home Open week and wonderful to have Steve and Kirsten popping in for a chat with our Residents and the team, along with our fellow HC-One Colleagues Liz Richards, Director of Nursing, and Becca Porteous, Senior Quality Improvement Manager.”
“It’s always a joy to host guests and entertainers in our home. It creates a very uplifting environment for our Residents and it’s lovely to see everyone interacting and taking in the moment.”
The Westbury care home decided to plan a cream tea with lots of cake and were visited by the local Westbury Lions Club, who hosted a ‘Sunshine Hour’ of singing, reflections and poetry with the local church group. The home also organised a barbecue with refreshments and live entertainment from local singer, Bec May.
Theresa Chacko, Home Manager at The Westbury, added:
“It is so nice to see everyone enjoying themselves and being able to show the outside world what we at The Westbury are about.”
Also putting on a show was Pennwood Lodge care home, in Wotton-under-Edge, who tied their theme in with Pride Month and offered a selection of Caribbean food and drink, entertainment including a steel band and a beautiful display of Resident artwork and crafts.
Pennwood Lodge were visited by their local councillor, Catherine Braun, who spent time talking with Residents and Colleagues.
Sarah Daley, Home Manager at Pennwood Lodge, said:
“Everyone enjoyed the music and sampling the Caribbean food. It was lovely to see the community coming together.”
HC-One’s chosen theme for this year’s Care Home Open Week was ‘Celebrating Together’. Throughout the week, Residents, Colleagues, families and friends enjoyed a variety of fun-filled activities culminating in an end-of-week celebration at the home.
Colleagues at Devizes based Market Lavington care home, asked Residents what ‘Carnival’ meant to them, and this helped shape ideas for the open day on what games, activities, music, food and colours should be involved. The home also organised a visit from music quartet ‘String Beanz’ and the local primary school children at St Barnabas, who sang some songs and performed a dance routing for the Residents.
Julia Bradley, who is a Resident at Market Lavington, commented:
“I’m so glad I made the effort and came along; I’ve had such a lovely time.”
The care homes were decorated especially for the occasion and the celebration was a chance for everyone to come together as a community, and to learn more about life at the care homes.
Visitors also enjoyed learning from Colleagues in the home about what a rewarding career in care looks like and finding out about opportunities for community engagement and volunteering roles to support their local care community.
Bart Kulczycki, Area Director at HC-One, said:
“We were delighted to be able to open the doors of our care homes again to welcome in our local communities and bring everyone together to celebrate Care Home Open Week 2023. Everyone had an amazing time.
“We are proud to support the South West and our Open Week celebrations provided a great opportunity to reconnect with our local communities and to support community engagement which is so important to our Residents, Colleagues and the local area.
“The week was a chance for us to showcase what life at our care homes is like, share career and volunteering opportunities, and remind our local communities that our kind care teams and facilities are here for them if they ever need support.”