Activities at Hafan-Y-Coed Care Home

Over the last few months we have started our very own pudding club at Hafan Y Coed

The aim of introducing pudding club is to generate foot flow of new faces within the home, by inviting people to attend. The second aim is to generate conversation about memories of favourite recipe's cooked by our residents or their memories of what they enjoyed as a child. It brings back important memories to those living with Dementia with many reminiscing purposes.

So far we have seen the Scarlet's rugby young players attend, the local Mayor and of course our residents families. We have enjoyed various traditional recipe's from jam tarts and apple pie, to lemon cheesecakes and custard slices.

This month we got the kitchen team and staff involved to make a recipe each to be taste tested. There was not one crumb left by the end of the day! Danny said "That Apple and Blackberry pie kept me quiet for at least ten seconds" while Mal said "Can I have another piece of that lemon and ginger cheesecake".

We invite you all to attend next months pudding club in May. Keep your eye on the activities board or Facebook page for updates.

What better way to celebrate Easter Sunday, than having a family fun day for everyone to spend this special celebration together.

Our aim was to welcome in spring with vibrant colours of yellow by asking everyone to wear the colour. Yellow is such a happy colour and it certainly brightened up the home with the decoration's and attire. We welcomed Robbie Lee to perform a show stopping concert of songs from across the decades. Everyone was singing along or tapping their feet to the music. Many local stall holders attended to showcase their products and resident's and families enjoyed the shopping experience. 

Everyone enjoyed the day, along with the many Easter eggs consumed by all.

Happy Easter to you all

This month some of our residents have been treated to some fabulous mini bus outings. Our first trip was on the Gwilli Steam Train for afternoon tea. While the train route gave a fantastic scenic route of  beautiful West Wales, everyone enjoyed a cream tea of scones with jam and cream and unlimited amounts of tea and coffee. Our Monthly visit went down a treat with a minibus full of excited residents who attended the cream tea with musical entertainment at local Selwyn Samuel Venue. You can see by everyone's faces what a lovely afternoon of music and dancing was had by all who went. Another trip, this time for our Gents, was enjoyed with a meal at the local Beefeater pub, where they chatted, enjoyed a lovely meal, washed down by a pint of bitter of course!! 

Our February themed event was enjoyed by our residents, family and friends and of course our wonderful staff who always get involved in ensuring fun events are a regular occurrence.

The idea behind this event was to bring back fond memories of typical TV programmes and well known films that would have been enjoyed over the decades. It prompted many conversations and memories across the home when planning the event. Images of well know TV characters were made into bunting, cinema tickets were given out to make it feel like a real cinema experience and Nachos and dips were also given out to enjoy during the evening. Many people joined in the fun with fancy dress attire. While our activities team took on the part of being the Ghost-busters, others opted for larger costumes such as our very own Jurassic park dinosaur (AKA our Manager Sarah Morgan) many of our residents dressed up with face-mask's of other well known famous faces along with family members who were also such good sports.

The quiz started off with a general knowledge film and TV round, followed by a famous faces round and to finish off the evening, a name that TV show musical round which had everyone singing along to popular shows! Our winners all enjoyed a hamper to share with their team which was filled with some delicious treats. We will be enjoying a monthly themed evening and encourage families and friends to join us!

Residents had a wonderful day celebrating our Patron Saint of Wales. We started the day with  some tradditional baking where residents and staff got together to make delicious Welsh cakes. Art sessions took place on all communities and the completed pictures were put on display for all to enjoy the beautiful bright daffodil images. 

The afternoon was enjoyed with a Welsh musical arrangement by the wonderful Chris Caine. Residents sang and danced along while also enjoying some beautiful Welsh cakes prepared that morning. Welsh rarebit and cockles, along with Cawl were prepared by the kitchen team for residents to enjoy during the Welsh themed dining experience.  

Children's choir from local school, Stebonheath Primary joined us to sing their hearts out for the residents singing modern and traditional Welsh songs. Everyone said how much they enjoyed the performance. Thank you once again for joining us.

Ensuring our residents sense of "identity" is maintained is one of the domains of wellbeing in dementia care. 

One of our residents said "I am very patriotic and proud to be Welsh. Whenever I meet someone new it's one of the first things I love to say about myself. I am Welsh and speak Welsh". 

We go above and beyond to recognise what is important to each and every resident and what "identity" means to them. 

At Hafan Y Coed we recognise that our staff's wellbeing not only benefits our employees but our residents too. 

We often ensure events are held within the home for our staff's wellbeing and this month held a holistic therapy day. Staff were treated to a massage in our relaxation and meditation room. 

Clare said "it was amazing to have a little time out to relax and unwind. I went back to work after my massage revitalised and full of energy" 

It has been proven that when employers ensure staff's wellbeing is taken in to consideration, it can help reduce stress, anxiety and promote a happier culture and environment to work in along with improved productivity. 

Happy staff = Happier residents