Activities at Lucerne House Care Home
At Lucerne House our person-centred activity programme has been tailored to suit the residents living in our home. It is constantly developing due to the direct feedback from our residents and enables them to take part in existing hobbies and new tasks that aim to stimulate creativity, intellect, physical ability and improve well being. With music groups, pub outings, cooking, gardening, one to one time, entertainers, quiz's, bingo and more, there is never a shortage of things to do.
We also have external providers who visit the home. We have Rachel Sherring who provides Yoga Sessions, Lorrain Christopher who is available every Wednesday and Thursday for hair appointments in our on site salon, Sharon Rees who visits on a Wednesday to provide massage therapy sessions in the comfort of your chair and regular Church Services which do include a monthly Holy Communion. We are always open to new suggestions, so if you do have any, our activities team will always be happy to listen.
Alex Petersen
I have been at Lucerne House since November 2011. I started in the kitchen before moving to the Activities Team. I have a background in music and theatre and was very happy to be able to share this with residents in the home. After a short while, I was promoted to Head of Activities, and earned my NAPA level 2 qualification in Activity Provision.
In the role of Head of Activities, I am focused on ensuring that residents can continue to enjoy existing hobbies and interests, but also pursue new avenues of stimulation and activity. I am always looking to bring new experiences and means of engagement to the home, be that through massage therapy, yoga, engaging with the local community or many other things. At Lucerne House, our person-centred approach allows us to make every resident feel valued and comfortable enough to express themselves however they see fit.
My goal is to ensure that every person living at Lucerne House feels confident enough to make independent decisions and that each of them have a robust choice of activities and interests to engage with. I am always open to suggestions, so if you do have any, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Read our brochure 'Life-enriching activities' for more information about life in our care homes.
Read our brochure
Activities and Events Partnerships
As part of our bespoke life-enrichment programmes, we host a number of live virtual events in the home on a regular basis through a number of partnerships with places of interest and world class performance companies
Life at Lucerne House Care Home
Baby Chick's
This month residents, staff and visitors to Lucerne House have all enjoyed meeting our visiting Baby Chick’s. We were able to support them on their journey as they hatched into the world and spent their early days and weeks with us. We shared the experience live on our Facebook page and the children from the foundation class at Alphington Primary School submitted suggested names. Our Chicks, Annie, Martha, Amelia, Daisy and Spike will spend a little more time with us before being re-homed. This has been such a great experience with residents helping to clean out the brooding pen and spending time with them that we are already planning our next hatching which we hope to do later in the year.
Pancake Day
Residents have been having a great time at our pancake cooking group. Each of them took a turn at flipping a pancake which saw some great techniques and lots of laughter too. With many choices of toppings and fillings, there was no shortage of creations to make.
Italian Day
We had a busy day today at Lucerne House in our Italian themed day. We started out by making pizzas in the morning which were shared out with residents and staff for lunch. Everyone said how tasty they were and that the added freshness made all the difference!
In the afternoon we took Mario and Luigi for a spin with Mario Kart. Residents always seem to enjoy playing and sometimes it can get a little competitive too.
Paper Boating
The paper boat extravaganza at Lucerne House was a great experience for all. Residents and staff have made paper boats and then put them to the test in a bowl of water on the table. We each gave our boats a name, as the old saying goes, it's bad luck to have a boat with no name. When it came to the testing, each boat was left to float in the water, after 3 minutes the passengers "pieces of scrunched up paper" boarded. The boat then had to be spin twice. If the boat survived this ordeal the final test was to have a further two passengers "scrunched up pieces of paper" which had been swimming "dunked in water" placed in the boat at the 5 minute mark. It was great fun with lots of laughter. The winning boat lasted 5 minutes and 40 seconds. Congratulations to our resident John for his winning boat.
Virtual Reality at Lucerne House
We have been trying out a new piece of equipment at Lucerne House. Residents have been using our new virtual reality headset. It has been amazing, enabling our residents to travel to faraway places and engage in different experiences. One of our residents had worked on a component of the spitfire planes during World War 2. He never got to fly the plane and has always dreamed of doing so. This week, with the virtual reality headset we could bring him closer to this dream as he virtually flew in a spitfire from Dover to Dunkirk. We have also been swimming with dolphins, to the sunny beaches of Australia, toured Paris and taken a trip to outer space. Our residents have said how much they have enjoyed it and are thinking of new places they can visit and things they can experience.
Book Club
At Lucerne House we started our book club. Residents and staff met over a hot drink to read a nonfiction book titled "Family Motoring" written by Lindsey Griffin. Fred, one of our residents, read the book for us and it was full of great trivia and information. For example did you know that the first speeding ticket was given to someone who was doing a blistering 8mph!
We had a great time and look forward to more events and book club meetings each month.
