Recent Events:

April seems to have flown by ever so quickly. We have been very lucky with the weather and have had some lovely sunshine which is much more preferable than ‘April showers.’

Some residents have made the most out of the sunshine and mild weather and have sat in the garden or had walks around the garden. It has been nice to get some fresh air.

We had lots of Easter themed activities including a quiz and arts and crafts such as painting eggs and coloring. We also made some Easter cards.

We were very lucky to have been donated lots of Easter eggs from the Bisley & West End foodbank who were overwhelmed by the generosity from local villagers and had surplus amounts. We really are blessed to be highly thought of in the community.

On Easter Sunday, the Easter bunny aka Niccii appeared to distribute easter egg goody bags to each resident.
It is safe to say there was enough chocolate to last us most of the month!

Tasha cooked a lovely leg of lamb dinner on Easter Sunday which was thoroughly enjoyed.

We were also very fortunate that Pauleene Hammett from the Church, made us a delicious homemade Easter cake which went down a treat too.

Dannii Heal, one of our bank care staff who is now a full- time teacher, has very kindly given up some of her weekends to spend a few hours doing activities with our residents. This has been appreciated and enjoyed by our residents who have had fun enjoying the music therapy and karaoke style sing- along’s. Les and Jill were lead singers with John whistling and Vera clapping. We have our own little Elmfield choir!

We have had our hairdresser coming to us every fortnight. Our usual activities including pamper afternoons, chair- based exercises, letter writing, board games, dominoes and reminiscing have all been done regularly by staff.

We had a surprise delivery from Abby Hunter- Kiely who lives in West End and during the pandemic has taken up baking. She delivered us a wonderful selection of homemade chocolate brownies, cookies and cakes.

We felt very privileged that Abby thought of us and used her precious time and resources to make our residents such delicious treats. As always, we are overwhelmed by the kindness shown towards us from within the community.

Upcoming events:

On 4th May, we will be receiving our eggs to hatch fluffy chicks! There is an air of excitement from within the home as their arrival is eagerly anticipated. We will keep the chickens for approx. ten days. They are coming from a company called Incredible Eggs and are sourced at a farm in Kent.

On the 5th May it is World Hand Hygiene day. We will be reminding ourselves of the importance of hand hygiene and will be using the infra- red equipment to show the bacteria on our hands which is always an eye- opening activity.

Weather permitting, we will have a BBQ. It will be our first one of 2021.

Themed days scheduled for May are Bulgarian and Indian. Dawn and Joanna are already searching their cookbooks for recipe ideas.

Staff and resident changes:

We had two new John’s join us at Elmfield House: John Salter who came here for a week and fitted in very well, in particular formed a close companionship with Patricia. John was inspired by Captain Tom Moore to walk laps of the garden daily.
In turn, John inspired Patricia to try walking with her walking stick rather than a Zimmer frame which was needed post- Covid and she is now using her walking stick all of the time. Well done, Patricia!

John Noble also joined us for four weeks and he really enjoyed his stay, to the point that he was reluctant to go home. John’s wonderful personality and great sense of humor made everyone smile and he also made use of the garden area during his stay. It is hoped that John will return back to Elmfield in the future, and he is always welcome.

Very sadly, we lost Dorothy Snowden on 22nd April. Dorothy had been with us for several years and is missed by everyone at Elmfield House. Dorothy had a short illness and passed away at Elmfield House which was wish.

We have some excellent new staff on our care team: Holly Randall and Larissa Kamburoff who are day carers. Both have made an excellent start to their induction and are experienced in care.

Ashley Whiteley has joined our night team and has also made an excellent start.

Our new staff started work during a transition process and have adapted very well in sometimes challenging situations but have worked well and always have a smile on their faces.

Birthdays:

Helena Veale celebrated her 89th birthday on 18th April. She received several cards and presents from family members. Helena had visits and phone calls from her family. She had a lovely day and particularly enjoyed her multiple birthday cakes.

Other news:

The majority of staff and residents had their second dose of the covid vaccination in early April. A few staff who had not wanted their first dose back in January now opted to have their first vaccination this month too which is great news.

Niccii had a short question and answer interview featured in the Bisley and West End parish news magazine.

Very through medication reviews have been conducted with our community pharmacist. There have been several changes which will be communicated with all relatives once approved by their GP’s.

We are focusing on trying to fill our vacant rooms and are raising our profile in the local villages. Now that lockdown is finally starting to ease, we are getting more enquiries and we are hoping that this trend will continue after an awful twelve months for health and social care.

We are reviewing our menu and any suggestions would be much appreciated! Questionnaires are currently being conducted with residents to identify likes, dislikes and favorite meals. As always, our menu will be determined on the preferences of our residents. We will continue offering three course meals at lunchtime with homemade soup as a starter.

Employee of the month:

Employee of the month for April is awarded to Christy Mosito. Christy has worked exceptionally hard recently and has covered additional shifts when needed. Christy has worked very well as part of the team and has implemented our values and ethos in her work practices. She takes pride in her work. Christy has been influential in helping to train our new night staff and to show them best practices and agreed ways of working.