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Recent events:
September seems to have been a busy month with lots going on……
The circus was in town so we had a fun evening on 18th September watching the clowns, acrobats, fire eater, roller duo, trapeze acts, hula hoop acrobats, laser show, magic and ball tricks plus more! This year’s circus was the best one yet! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
We made the most out of the sunshine and as requested in last month’s ‘Resident and Relative’s meeting, we had two family BBQs in September: One on the 7th and the 19th, which were pretty well attended on both occasions. Good old Roger opened the door and the smoke set the fire alarm off!
The weather on the first BBQ was dry but not particularly sunny therefore most people stayed indoors. However, we were very lucky for the second BBQ and the sun was shining brightly. Our garden was full of residents, friends and families sitting outdoors enjoying their food, and drink of course!
Thank you to everyone who helped out with these events and to the friends and family who attended. It is unlikely we will be having anymore now until next year as the summer is now over.
We had the lovely Andy Armitt, from Bisley Church with Alison for our monthly prayers and communion. Instead of a formal service, they spoke to residents individually and said individual prayers which was very much appreciated by our residents.
The Surrey visiting library came to Elmfield and left us some audio books as well. We have been having story time in the communal lounge. Several residents chose new library books to keep them busy until next month.
We have continued with our fortnightly pub lunches which are as popular as ever. Our residents really enjoy going out for lunch and we are made to feel very welcome. I think the glass of wine, pint of beer or shandy helps!
Bailey our lovely PAT dog has been enjoying his fortnightly visits to Elmfield. We love making a fuss of him and he is ever so happy so see us! His owner Caroline is particularly friendly to our residents and has got to know each person over the years.
We held our annual McMillan coffee event on 27th September.
We raised over £100 for an amazing cause.
Thank you to Dawn and her friend Tracey, who made a range of delicious cakes which everyone enjoyed. We had chocolate marble cake, lemon drizzle cake, white chocolate and raspberry cake, Victoria sponge and the cutest cupcakes.
A massive
THANK YOU to everyone who donated and joined in with our games.
It was lovely to see one of the relatives from a resident we had here several years ago.
A small group of our residents have been going to The Vyne day Centre at Knaphill. They are all members now and try and go there once a week for lunch and a change of scenery.
Our lovely volunteer Emily is back with us after a very busy summer. Emily has been up to all-sorts of exciting things but has now dedicated her Wednesday afternoons to spending time at Elmfield with our residents doing activities and spending time with us all. Emily is a very confident young lady and does manicures, does chair- based exercises, quizzes, games and lots more!
Upcoming events:
As Autumn and Winter approach, we will have less outings and more going on within the warmth of the home.
On 2nd October we have our Tea Dance at HG Wells. This event is always great fun and we have afternoon tea as well.
Its’ wonderful to listen to the golden oldies and the dance hall brings back fond memories of days gone by.
Tina from High Kicks and Heels is back from her summer holiday and will be in to entertain us with her cabaret show very soon.
We have definitely missed her over the summer!
Jasmine from G-Fitness has also been on holiday in September but will be back with us in October to keep us fit and healthy with her monthly exercise class.
October is Breast cancer awareness month, and we will be holding some charity events throughout the month including a Quiz night and wearing pink for ‘Wear it pink’ day. Details of events to follow……. Keep an eye out for posters and on the notice board for details!
In the Bisley Village Hall, the Community Café is back! This runs on a Monday from 10am-12pm. We are hoping to take a group of residents there each week to mingle with our neighbors and enjoy tea and toasted teacakes!
We have a lovely local lady called Carol who will be volunteering at Elmfield on a Saturday morning. Carol will come in and spend some time chatting with our residents, going out for walks and doing activities. Carol had worked in care for many years and now in retirement would like to still be involved in a social way. We are very grateful that we have volunteers who are happy to dedicate their valuable time to spend with us.
Staff and resident changes:
Our new staff have settled in amazingly well and have brought many skills to our team. Well done all of you! We are lucky to have you on our team.
Sadly, our housekeeper Samantha Draddy, has left to work hours better suited around childcare.
However, Jade will be taking Samantha’s place at the end of the month to work alongside Julie in our housekeeping team. Jade knows the home, the residents, routine and expectations.
Birthdays:
After a hectic August for birthday’s, September was the opposite with no birthdays at all! We have two upcoming birthdays for Dorothy Snowden and Pam Mulvaney in October.
Other news:
Annual flu vaccinations are due and Niccii is in the process of obtaining consent for residents to administer them.
NHS England has also recommended that all staff within care settings have their flu jabs so this has been passed onto all staff members and the company will pay for them if GP surgeries will not provide as this was problematic last year at some local surgeries.
We have purchased more motion sensors after the success of the first batch last year. Since September 2018, we have more than halved the quantity of falls related accidents consistently each month. This will be allocated to ‘at risk’ residents who do not currently have one and who may be at risk of falling.
Employee of the month:
Employee of the month for September was very difficult to decide for several reasons. All of our new starters have worked extremely hard to adapt to our environment, completed the workload efficiently, some have already completed and passed all of their mandatory training already and Fiona in particular has covered many shifts, often as short notice.
However, Roland Jefferies and Sharon Heywood deserve special recognition: they have both been praised by their new starter colleagues for being particularly helpful in their induction process, taking the time to support them and explain things. They have been friendly and helpful. Also, in the absence of four key members of staff who were all on annual leave, both Roland and Sharon stepped up to support Niccii and went above and beyond expectations to be shift leader and help ensure the smooth running of the home in what could have been difficult circumstances. Both Roland and Sharon have shown loyalty and dedication as well as demonstrating good leadership qualities.