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Recent events:
January has been a very long month in many respects. It has been cold, dark and miserable so we have tried to keep busy to distract us from the January blues.
We have been to pub lunches over at the Hen & Chicks. We were made to feel as welcome as always and the food was delicious. Residents are choosing an ever increasing range of meals and all meals are throughly enjoyed.
We had Jasmine from G-Fitness with us to do our monthly exercise class. This was joined in by lots of residents and was a really productive session. This session included using light weights as well as other apparatus to keep the session interactive and ever- changing.
Andy Armitt, the parish Priest has sadly departed from Bisley Church. They are currently sourcing a replacement for him but thankfully this has not affected our monthly visits with Alison and Pauleene. The service was well- attended and we had some new faces with Helen and Helena who joined in.
Bailey has been to see us a couple of times with his owner Caroline. It is lovely to have a dog within the home and for some residents, this brings back memories of family pets from years gone by.
Tina from High Kicks and Heels did her monthly show at Elmfield bringing laughter and song to the home with her melody of popular sing- along songs from days gone by. Tina also did some tap dancing as part of her show.
We held our first ‘Resident and relatives meeting’ of the year on 21st. There was a good turn-out of residents and relatives and the meeting was informative and productive.
Upcoming events:
It is Jean Winfield’s 100th birthday on 1st February. We are having a party to celebrate from 4pm.
Friday 7th is ‘Send a card to a friend’ day so we will be making and writing cards for our loved ones as a themed activity.
Sunday 9th is National Pizza day so it would be rude not to have some pizza!
It is Valentine’s Day on 14th February so we will have themed reminiscing around this time and a party. Details to be confirmed.
We have Shrove Tuesday on 25th February. We usually have pancakes with a choice of fillings which is certainly something to look forward to.
Staff and resident changes:
We welcomed Helen Baker to Elmfield on 10th January who has come from her own home in Knaphill. Helen has settled well and has made lots of friends here.
Sadly, we lost Patricia Bell on 26th January following a short illness. Pat was surrounded by her family and was very peaceful. RIP Pat who is dearly missed.
Birthdays:
On 12th January, we celebrated Dorothy Herkes’ 95th birthday. Dorothy had a party with her two daughters Pam and Sheila. She had a lovely day and lots of cards, presents and messages of goodwill from family al around the world.
Other news:
We have introduced monthly reflection for residents and staff to review the month looking at the positives, negatives, memories made and hopes.
We introduced the ‘Three wishes’ for 2020 and each resident shared their wishes for the year. Some were somewhat surprising and all were very interesting. We will try our best to help make our residents wishes come true!
We will be distributing Quality Assurance questionnaires shortly. Responses really are appreciated as they are such a useful tool to help us improve. It is also beneficial to identify what we are doing well to ensure that we continue to do so. Questionnaires are distributed to residents, relatives, staff and visiting healthcare professionals to give a true reflection of how we are performing.
Please can relatives and residents take the time to complete the ‘Care home UK’ feedback forms which are located in the porch which are then posted. This again is a valuable tool in helping us assess how we are doing locally.
We are due to change our menu in the near future. Please have a think of any suggestions that you may have to share with us which may be a popular meal option.
We will do food questionnaires with residents to help us identify what the popular meals are, which are perhaps not as popular as they used to be and to suggest new ideas which can be added to the main menu.
We tend to change our menu regularly to add greater variety to the menu and to be reflective of changing resident’s nutritional needs and preferences.
Employee of the month:
Employee of the month for January has been awarded to Lauren Watson. Lauren has an excellent work ethic; she is hard-working, professional and has been wonderful at covering shifts, often at short notice working days and night.
Lauren recently graduated as a nurse and she has shared some of her skills and knowledge from her nurse training with us. Lauren is a good leader and she continually sets a good example to her colleagues. Keep up the great work!