Pond Park Care Home

Friday 16^th June marked Care Home Open Day, a day that actively encourages people in the local community to pop into their local care home and find out what’s going on.

The theme for this year’s open day was friendship, and Four Seasons homes and their local community certainly forged some long lasting friendships with their local communities through a variety of different events.

The events included:

• The Prince’s Trust heading into Kingsmead Care Home in Swindon sprucing up the garden
  
• Ty Eirin Care Home in Port welcomed in local school children and councillors for a fun filled afternoon
  
• A Jazz band kept everyone entertained in Pontypridd at Ty Gwynno Care Home
  
• It was a more sleepy affair at Whittington Care Home in Chesterfield as the team turned up for work in the PJs before having lots of fun with residents, relatives and visitors to the home
  
• Music and dancing was definitely on the cards for many of our homes as Benarty View Care Home in Kelty, Gotton Manor Care Home in Taunton, Benholm Care Home in Forfar and Laurels Lodge Care Home in Woodside, all had musical entertainment (and an assortment of other activities) for their guests
  
• Campsie View Care Home in Glasgow had their own petting zoo for everyone to enjoy
  
• The Laurels Care Home in Hetton-le-Hole held a country and western themed day which everyone thoroughly enjoyed
  
• Jazz was the music of choice at The Cedars and Larches Care Home in Ilkeston’s festivities.
  
• Redwell Hills Care Home in Consett, remembered the friends they’d sadly lost and released some balloons with messages in their honour.

The photos you can see above are just a snap shot of what happened at our homes during Care Home Open Day. It’s great to see from the pictures that everyone had lots of fun.

12^th-18^th June marks Carers Week, and here at Four Seasons Health Care we wanted to say thank you to the thousands of carers in our homes who regularly make a difference to the lives of our residents and their families.

In 2016 at the Four Seasons Care Awards, colleagues, residents, families and health care professionals identified the cream of the crop. However, over the past 18 months, positive praise has continued to arrive commending the care and kindness shown by our carers from across the organisation.

Watch this space to see if you can see your favourite carer on our website and social media pages.

You are our heroes of the week. Well done everyone!

Omne Trium Perfectum…is the Latin phrase for everything that comes in three is perfect.

This phrase certainly resonates with Carol Cousins, Managing Director of Four Seasons Health Care in Northern Ireland. On Thursday 8^th June 2017, Carol leads colleagues in her region to three separate prestigious award events on the very same night!

These awards include:

1. The annual Northern Ireland Royal College of Nursing Awards taking place at the Culldoen Hotel
   
   
2. The annual Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards taking place at the Titanic Belfast
   
   
3. The first annual Staff Nursing Awards taking place at the Stormont Hotel

In total, Carol and colleagues from Northern Ireland are finalists in a whopping 14 categories across the three award events.

At the Royal College of Nursing Awards Four Seasons Health Care is up for two awards.Regional Manager (and reigning British Nutritional Nurse of the Year)

• Alana Irvine is a finalist in the category of Nurse of the Year
  
• Research Coordinator Dr Gary Mitchell is a finalist in the category of Nurse Researcher of the Year

A short distance away, Four Seasons Health Care is also up for four awards at the ‘Irish News Workplace Employment Awards’. These awards, open to all industries, recognise and celebrate the achievements of progressive and leading businesses in Northern Ireland.

Four Seasons Health Care has been named as a finalist in the categories of:

• Employer for the Future
  
• Team of the Year
  
• Workplace Excellence
  
• and the main award of the night: Best Place to Work!

The inaugural ‘Staff Nursing Awards’ take place just outside Belfast in the historic Stormont Hotel and seeks to acknowledge and reward best practice in residential and nursing care within Northern Ireland. Four Seasons Health Care are the front-runners with 8 nominations across the 11 categories.

• Bangor Care Home are finalists in the category of ‘Advancement in Nutritional Wellbeing’.
  
• Florence Nightingale Scholar and OSCE Lead Ann Geraghty is a finalist in the ‘Investment in Training Category’.
  
• Four Seasons Health Care 2016 Regional Manager of the Year Lorraine Kirkpatrick is a finalist in the ‘Innovation and Clinical Excellence category’.
  
• Resident Experience Care Specialist Monica Diamond is a finalist in ‘Inspirational Achievements in Dementia’ category.
  
• Northern Ireland Regional Values Champion of the Year and Senior Care Assistant, Evelyn McKeown from Seapatrick Care Home is a finalist in the ‘Senior Health Care Assistant of the Year’ category.
  
• Student Nursing Times Student Nurse of the Year Nominee and Care Assistant Stacey Finlay from Domnall Intermediate Care Centre is a finalist in the ‘Health Care Assistant of the Year’ category.
  
• Domnall Intermediate Care Centre is a finalist in the ‘Nursing Home of the Year’ category.
  
• Finally, the Northern Ireland region of Four Seasons Health Care is a finalist in the ‘Innovation in Dementia Care’ category.

These achievements are quite unprecedented within the sector and illustrate the dedication that Carol and her team have to delivering special resident experiences within Northern Ireland.

Good Luck to the Four Seasons Health Care NI region on Thursday! If you’re a Twitter user please follow the hashtag #FSHCNI for the latest updates on the night.

Alternatively you can follow our Nurse Twitter Account @FSHCNurses who will be providing live updates across the three venues!