Springhill Care Newsletter

December 2014

Birch Green team sign up as Dementia Friends to help make

the Skelmersdale more dementia friendly Eight people in Skelmersdale signed up to become

Dementia Friends this week.

The group attended a free one-hour session at Birch green care home run by local Dementia Friends Champion Joe Sherville.

Dementia Friends launched in February this year to help members of the public understand what it might be like to live with dementia and turn that understanding into action.

Alzheimer’s Society is aiming to have one million Dementia Friends by 2015, to help make England more dementia

friendly and improve the lives of the 670,000 people currently living with the condition.

Speaking about the session, Joe Sherville said: "This week's Dementia Friends session in was fantastic and the feedback from participants was really positive.”

"It gives me such satisfaction to speak to people about dementia and how it affects people’s everyday lives.”

Joe signed up to be a Dementia Friends Champion earlier this year and attended a one day training course on how to deliver the sessions.

He said: "I signed up to be a Dementia Friends Champion to support a family member and friend. I’m so proud to be part of a growing network of people helping to create dementia friendly communities across England.”

Emma Cornmell, Dementia Friends Regional Support Officer at Alzheimer’s Society said: "Less than half of us think we know enough about dementia."Dementia Friends is the perfect opportunity to be able to invite everyone up and down the country to improve their knowledge.”

For more information visit dementiafriends.org.uk to find your nearest Dementia Friends information session or to volunteer as a Dementia Friends Champion.

To read more of Springhill Care Group's recent news articles, please view our

website www.springhillcaregroup.com

Meet Vici……

Vici’s worked at our Affinity Supporting People service for nearly

ten years. She began as a support worker then moved into a team

leader’s role. Four years ago Vici was promoted to Operations

Manager, a position that she finds sometimes challenging but also

very rewarding.

Vici says that she absolutely loves her job and really enjoys

making a difference to the people they supports lives and working

with such a fantastic team.

She is Mum to three teenagers Sam, Mia and Ellie whom she is

extremely proud of and Vici says that she loves spending quality

time with all her family.

In her spare time she likes going out with her friends and keeping fit and active.

If you’d like to take part in our ‘Meet our team…’ give me a call at our Cannon

Street office or send me an email to cstevens@springhillcare.com Thank you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!

Craig had a brilliant time at his birthday party

with his friends and staff, which included a lovely

homemade buffet that went down very well!

To read more of Affinity Supporting People's recent news articles, please view our

website www.affinitysupport.org

Meet Huma….

Huma started at Springhill Care Home over eighteen months ago as a Health & Social Care apprentice, embarking on a special study of people with dementia and their nutritional needs.

Huma says that she loves everything about her job role and really enjoys working with such a great team.

In her spare time Huma is studying hard at college to gain further qualifications to enable her to enrol at university to be a Mental Health Nurse, you go Huma!

Musical therapy fills our Home with laughter Visitors to Springhill Care Home recently might have noticed the corridors ringing with the sound of music and singing.

Hilary Wood, a local singer and qualified complementary therapist is a regular visitor to Springhill Care Home and Hillary has been helping our residents and staff enjoy a special type of musical therapy.

The value of music as a form of therapy and support for people with dementia and similar conditions is fast becoming recognised by care professionals.

At Springhill we’re very keen to not only give new care techniques a try, but to help our residents enjoy themselves in general – so musical therapy is perfect.

Hilary, who works for Ribble Valley-based Cross Roads Care, has been singing with care home residents for several years, and is constantly impressed by how this form of therapy can help. She also sings for the Alzheimer’s Society.

She said: “Singing clearly evokes strong memories in people, it can help them to engage with others and move around in ways that they may not do otherwise.

“It’s truly amazing what people get out of it, and not just residents. We are always being approached by family members who are very emotional after seeing one of our sessions, amazed at how their family members have reacted.

“Singing and music is a different form of communication and we’ve seen it be a very powerful tool.”

Christmas events at Springhill Care Home...

Monday 8th & Monday 15th December at 1:30pm – Children from St Marys

Primary School choir

Tuesday 16th December at 2pm-4pm – Our residents’ big

Christmas party, with a buffet and singing by the popular

Jonny Solo. Father Christmas will also be making an

appearance with lots of gifts for our residents!

Wednesday 24th December – Christmas Eve festive afternoon with sing a

longs, joke telling & sherry drinking! We will also be eating the Christmas

pudding that a member of staff has kindly made and donated to our

residents

To read more of Springhill Care Home's recent news articles, please view our

website www.springhillcarehome.com

Staff showcase Birch Green at community health day

Staff from Birch Green have been out and about

this week, attending a Health and Wellbeing Day at the Tanhouse Community Centre in Skelmersdale.

The event was organised by the community centre to provide information about long-term health conditions. Charities and support groups from the local area went along, as well as members of the public.

Our team decided it would be great fun to embrace a wartime theme, in the spirit of the centenary of the First World War. Jan, our nutrition advocate, went to town with the theme, dressing up as Vera Lynn and treating onlookers to some wartime songs. Bernie, from our lifestyle team, proudly wore her father’s naval medals and Christopher, one of our volunteers, looked very smart in an army uniform.

The team attracted a lot of attention on the day, with many people coming over to say how much of a fun place Birch Green must be. There was even a visit from Councillor Doreen Stephenson, the Mayor of Skelmersdale, who stopped to have her photo taken with our team and promised to pop down to the home to have a chat with our residents.

Everyone enjoyed getting together with members of the community to find out what’s going on locally, as well as being able to show what a great place Birch Green is to live. The team did Birch Green proud.

Birch Green celebrates

Lily’s big birthday

Residents and staff joined together this week to mark a very special occasion for

resident Lily Collman, her 101st birthday.

Lily celebrated her incredible milestone along with friends from Birch Green and her son

Malcolm and daughter in law Vera.

Local entertainer Ken Gibson was also on hand to provide music as we enjoyed party treats and

drinks.

Everyone at Birch Green wishes Lily a happy

birthday and a big congratulations on reaching her milestone.

Supermarket supporting us

Birch Green is receiving support from a major supermarket chain to

help with its activities.

We are working with Asda supermarket in Ingram Road to offer customers the choice of donating their shopping tokens. The tokens will be turned into a donation to the residents’ fund which will help to create more days out and activities. A member of the Birch Green team will be working at Asda to give customers the opportunity to contribute to the cause, which is supported by relatives of residents and friends alike. Birch Green general manager Carol Nickeas said: “We appreciate the support from Asda and as part of the community organisation it helps us to highlight what we are trying to achieve. Customers at Asda can rest assured that their tokens will be put to good use.” “We believe in keeping our residents fully active and this will help to arrange even more events and activities.”

Christmas events at Birch Green Care Home...

Thursday 11th December at 2:30pm – Children from St John’s Primary School

brass band and choir & Professor Magico at 4:15pm

Saturday 13th December at 2:30pm – Mince pie and sherry afternoon with

the Skelmersdale Choir singing Christmas songs

Monday 15th December at 1:45pm – Children from St James’ School

sing Christmas songs

Wednesday 17th December at 1:45pm – Monica and friend’s church

service and 12 days of Christmas carols with sherry and mince pies

Thursday 18th December at 2:30pm – Our residents Christmas

party downstairs with Kevin Mulvany

Sunday 21st December at 2:30pm – Residents Christmas party

upstairs with Kevin Mulvany

Wednesday 24th December at 2:30pm – Christmas Eve festive

cheer, sing a long afternoon – ALL WELCOME

To read more of Birch Green Care Homes recent news articles, please view our

website www.birchgreencare.com

Christmas shopping underway

We took a trip to the Mall at Cribbs Causeway

with residents Jean and Audrey last week, to

have a look around the shops.

With Christmas fast approaching, the ladies took

the chance to get their shopping started early, and

found time to enjoy a spot of lunch too.

The mall was all decked out in festive décor,

including fake snow, which really got us all in the

Christmas mood.

A Columbian goodbye to Gloria

Recently we said goodbye to popular staff member Gloria, who has dedicated ten

years of her life to Riversway as a care assistant

and will be leaving us soon.

Gloria, accompanied by colleague Yazmine who recently

joined the care team from a role with the kitchen and

the domestic team, prepared a lovely afternoon

showcasing Gloria’s Columbian heritage.

After a short film about Columbia Gloria and Yazmine

showed off their dancing skills in costume, and everyone

present enjoyed the party atmosphere.

We’d like to wish Gloria all the best, and at the same time welcome Yazmine to the team.

Residents get creative with Japanese craft

Riversway plays host to a wide range of activities and last week was no

exception, as our residents had fun having a go at the traditional Japanese art of

origami.

Among the animals created

using this paper-folding art

were some lovely penguins and

doves.

Others took the chance to do a

bit of colouring or sit and have a

chat over a cup of tea, enjoying

a catch up with friends and

staff.

To read more of Riversway Care Home's recent news articles, please view our

website www.riverswaycare.com

Photos from around the group from our social media pages

SPRINGHILL CARE WOULD LIKE TO WISH

EVERYONE A VERY

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND

A PROSPEROUS

NEW YEAR!

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© Springhill Care

This newsletter is from Springhill Care Group Limited.

Registered Office:

11 Cannon Street

Accrington, Lancashire BB5 1NJ

T: 01254 304500 F: 01254 304531 E: info@springhillcare.com W: www.springhillcare.com

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