Tall Oaks 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.

When you step into Tall Oaks Care Home in Biddulph, you may be mistaken into thinking you’ve walked into Santa’s Grotto.

That’s because the home has transformed one of its rooms into a festive Grotto.

Hannah Barrington-Parry Cahalane, Home Manager, said: “We wanted to do something special and festive for the resident. Creating our own Santa’s Grotto seemed a fitting thing to do and a nice way to countdown the sleeps till Christmas.”

Are you looking for a care home in Stoke on Trent? Tall Oaks Care Home offers support for all types of care including residential care, dementia care, nursing care, respite care and end of life/palliative care.

Margaret Jackson, who volunteers at Tall Oaks Care Home in Stoke-On-Trent has made the finals of the Four Season’s Care Awards in the Regional Volunteer of the Year category for the North West of England for her commitment to giving her free time to help others.

These are the 1st Four Season’s Care Awards and this year over 700 people were nominated for awards by care home residents, colleagues and visitors. All entries have been of a very high standard making the judging process a difficult one. However, a winner had to be chosen and the nomination for Ms. Jackson demonstrated how she continues to offer her time and bring a little joy to everyday experiences for our residents.

During the judging process for the Regional Volunteer of the Year award, the panel was looking at a number of different factors which included evidence that someone who’s energy has a positive impact on the lives of the residents in one of our homes.

Ms. Jackson was nominated by a member of the care team. Her nomination read: “Margaret Jackson chose to be a volunteer after her mother passed away several years ago in Tall Oaks. Her mum Nell was very active and would often instruct Margaret on where to pot plants. Margaret continued to ‘muck in’ and is now a part of our extended family here. She is well liked by the residents and she helps with the activities and fund raising within the home and local community. She’s a lovely lady and deserves to be recognised.”

As the winner for North West of England, Ms. Jackson is automatically through to the national Four Season’s Care Awards finals. She will meet a panel of judges in for the last round of judging and will then join finalists from across the UK in Birmingham for a special event to celebrate their achievements and discover if they have won a national award.

Paul Lewis, Regional Manager for Four Seasons Health Care for Staffordshire and Cheshire, said: “Margaret is very supportive to the home and the other residents. She promotes the home and our ethos at all times. She’s a very deserving winner of this category, as nothing seems too much trouble for her. Well done Margaret!”

Rachael Junge, Managing Director for Four Seasons Health Care in North West of England, said: “Margaret supported the care team and residents whilst her mum was alive and has continued to do so after her sad loss. She is an inspiration to all who meet her and we are blessed to have her in our lives.”

The Care Awards were open to employees from all Four Seasons homes across the UK and central team members to celebrate their commitment in the delivery of high-quality services to 14,000 residents cared for in more than 300 locations.

The 14 categories have been created to recognise excellence in a variety of roles across the organisation ranging from ‘Registered Nurse of the Year’ to ‘Care Home Manager of the Year’. We also wanted to recognise the hard the dedication and commitment from our residents, their relatives and volunteers.

Tim Hammond, CEO of Four Seasons Health Care said: “The award categories are all really important as we want to highlight the fantastic people we have working here in our organization. However, I believe it is important to acknowledge the special people who go above and beyond to help others in the community, and this is why our ‘Resident or Relative Contribution’ and ‘Volunteer of the Year’ awards are so important to us.

“I look forward to seeing all of our Regional winners at the National Finals in December.”