Activities at Ochil Care Home

It has been great seeing the spirit of the community pulling together to help each other were we can, we have been very lucky here at Ochil to receive such lovely things from our community which have been making lots of our residents smile.

We had a lovely young girl who came to gardens grounds of Ochil and played the bagpipes to our residents who were in the lounge areas watching from the windows, it really made our residents happy and they loved hearing the bagpipes as well as some well-known Scottish songs.

We have received so many amazing drawings, photos and letters from school children who are currently off school during lock down and wanting to lift our residents spirits, many being lovely rainbows as a symbol for staying strong during these hard times which we have displayed on our windows throughout the home as well as responding back with our own letters, drawings and kind words.

In and around our home we are trying to stay as active as possible by carrying on our ‘Love to Move’ light exercise class, having flower planting afternoons inside the home, having fun with various games such as bingo mornings and domino afternoons, getting messy with arts and crafts and being creative with cake baking.

Residents at Ochil recently enjoyed an egg-stravaganza from the local community, who treated the residents to an early ‘Easter bunny’ when they were surprised by the generosity of their local Morrison’s store, who kindly delivered Easter eggs for every resident and staff member, and it meant such a lot, as visitors are currently not able to visit the home at this time.

On the 13th of February we had Chris White back again preforming all well known and loved songs, the residents loved the concert with people up dancing and singing along, we all had good fun and will be sure to see Chris back again soon.

We finished the month with an outing to the cinema on the 28th of February to a dementia screening of Singing in the Rain, we had popcorn, chocolate and the residents said they enjoyed the day out and how much the cinema had changed since their days. 

On the 3rd of February, Ochil had the much loved pantomime back to do a romantic comedy ‘Secret Love’ in the afternoon for our residents,

The room was full of singing and laughter, everybody had a great time and enjoyed the show. The pantomime will be back in May to perform the much loved Doris Day Calamity Jane.

On 26th January, we took a trip round to Broxden Farmhouse and had a lovely lunch there. The residents loved their afternoon outing. We all had good fun and they said the food was great.

Staff at Ochil were delighted when carer, Jill Rennie completed her SVQ2 Qualification which was celebrated throughout the home to mark her achievement.  This achievement is extra special as Jill has gained the qualification at 73-years young!   

Jill started at Ochil in August 2017 and has always said “I’m too old” to do a qualification and had aimed to retire when her SSSC was due to expire.  With a little gentle encouragement Jill changed her mind and last year, 2019 undertook the qualification.   Jill works 29-hours a week and has never had a single day off sick during her employment and is a valuable member of the team.  A wonderful employee whose achievement is inspirational.

Elizabeth Stewart, General Manager said: “Jill is an integral member of the team who excels at what she does. I’m delighted that she has completed and passed this qualification. She has worked so hard and we are very proud of her.”