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November 2012
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no.198 • £4.75
The Number One magazine for the care sector
Residents eat well thanks to new initiative By Dominic Musgrave RESIDENTS at a Preston care home are eating well and are healthy thanks to a new initiative. A snack shop that offers round the clock sustenance has opened in Longridge Lodge. The new area offers hot soup each afternoon and high calorie snack bars and drinks round the clock for residents and their families to help themselves. Manager Melissa Kershaw said in spite of the three nutritious meals provided every day by the in-house cook, residents with dementia can sometimes find meals difficult to concentrate on at set times. She added: “Often with dementia what happens is that at set mealtimes residents may not eat as much as they should. “This is nothing to do with the food we serve but everything to do with the mood of the resident, perhaps they are feeling anxious or confused, or maybe they are distracted and agitated and keep leaving the table and pacing about. “Sometimes those with dementia lose their ability to recognise hunger or lose their sense of taste.” “Everyone in the home has played their part in making this happen,” added Melissa. “Relatives have raised funds, staff have done a
sponsored walk, and our handyman worked all through the night building the units so residents were not disturbed. “Residents made the signs for our new snack shop in their art and craft sessions so it has been a real team effort.” The home is now assessing this new snack initiative and carefully tracking the weight of each resident. So far the results show a significant weight gain that is being maintained. Visiting dietician Helen said: “I haven’t seen any other home doing what Orchard is doing. “I now have no worries about the diet and weight of these residents. It has reduced my workload here to virtually nil.” The 60-capacity home, which also welcomes adults with visual and hearing impairments, has been able to install the snack shop thanks to relatives’ fundraising efforts, hard work from the home’s handyman and contributions from the residents’ own arts and crafts sessions. Have you got a similar service at your care home, and have you noticed the difference in your residents? If so, email your stories to healthcare editor Dominic Musgrave at dm@scriptmedia.co.uk
Workers help to save man’s life
Broadcaster and journalist Angela Rippon cut the ribbon to officially open Hallmark Care Homes’ Bucklesham Grange – a new 55-bed care home in Ipswich. Facilities at the state-of-the-art home include a spa therapy room, café/bistro, a cinema, an old fashioned shop and a residents’ laundry room – designed to promote independence and activities of daily living.
TWO quick-thinking employees with homecare company Sevacare turned detective during their rounds and saved a man’s life. Sophie Kirby and Georgie Stagg spotted blood on the floor of the entrance to the Elk View Extra Care Scheme in Blackpool. They traced it to a nearby house whose resident regularly plays bingo at the scheme. Unable to get an answer, they contacted an ambulance, but being told it would be some time before it would get there, they then contacted the police. Officers broke into the property and found the man unconscious. He was rushed to hospital suffering from a burst ulcer in his leg and gangrene. Chief executive Roger Booker said: “There is little doubt that if they hadn’t been so conscientious the man would probably not have survived and they are to be commended.”