Activities at White Lodge Care Home

Happy Valentine's Day from us all at White Lodge.  Our residents are always in our hearts and what better day to show them how much we care, than on Valentine's Day.  We laid the dining room tables in a beautiful red setting with love hearts, then after lunch they were treated to a wonderful afternoon tea served with our best bone china.  Love really was all around us.  

Memory Lane is our community for those living with dementia.  Activities are resident led, with one gentleman showing his musical talents on drums and one of our ladies bonding with our new "baby" therapy dolls.  These are proven to reduce stress and agitation for those living with dementia.  The dolls also give a sense of responsibility and the opportunity to care.  The resources available to our residents are pioneering in dementia care.  Barchester's Dementia Support team work closely with the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University to ensure we have access to the latest research and developments in dementia care.

Care Homes like so many of us over the past few months have appreciated the importance and use of technology to stay in touch with loved ones.  White Lodge uses all the main Apps to enable video calls including WhatsApp, Facetime and Zoom.  The visiting pod remains available to book online, equipped with microphone speaker to aid communication during the visit.   

In addition we post regular updates on Facebook, so do like the Barchester Healthcare (White Lodge Care Home) Page and do tell friends and family about the page so they can also see updates of residents enjoying life in the home.

Love is all around us at White Lodge.  With Valentine's Day on its way, we decided to spread the love and decorate our cafe lounge with love hearts garlore.  There are lots more Valentine activities planned for next week for our residents to enjoy, along with enjoying some classic love songs.  Even in these challenging times Deon Jackson's 1960s' hit song reminds us "Love makes the world go round".

Our creative residents at White Lodge love a good knit and natter morning!  They recently finished a project working with Hook Women's Institute to make two beautiful blankets for local charities.  Always wanting to keep busy, the knitting circle are now making hats for the Great Western Hospital Maternity and Neonatal Unit.  We will keep you updated as our knitters keep those knitting needles clicking!

This weekend White Lodge are taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, residents have been preparing this week to spot the birds partaking in the feast that has been prepared for them.  Residents got a little messy mixing lard, wild bird seed and raisins, the gourmet mix was then put into various containers including china teacups!  These were then hung around the resident's patios, outside the cafe and lounges as well as on trees and the bird table.  White Lodge is set in 10 acres of grounds and attracts a great variety of wildlife, it is a pleasure to watch the birds enjoying their treat, we will definitely be refilling these for the birds to enjoy over the coming months.