HEALTHY LIVING: Care home with a more positive outlook
A care home in Sheffield is working to enhance the lives of its residents with positive activities and complementary therapies. Sarah Dunn took a tour and found out more.
ZENA King shows off a dazzling ring on the third finger of her left hand. It compliments the stylish watch on her wrist and decorative scarf around her neck.
She may be confined to a wheelchair and dependent on carers because of multiple sclerosis, but she is not letting the condition get in the way of her excitement about her recent engagement to fellow Broomgrove Nursing Home resident Paul Dudson, or stop her from keeping up with the latest trends.
Zena is only 51 after all.Which is probably one of the reasons why her relatives picked Broomgrove as the place for to come to when her condition meant she needed full time care.
This isn't a place where residents sit around in a circle with the TV blaring in the corner, or shuffle around the corridors staring at the floors. It aims to be a proper home for its residents - it sounds simple, but it's an idea that often gets lost in other nursing homes.
Staff there even hosted an engagement party for Zena and Paul when they shared the good news, allowing all their friends, relatives and fellow residents to come together and toast the happy couple. The past year has also seen the positive effects of two new staff posts really come into their own.
Jill Wall, care home manager, took on activities co-ordinator Hilary Marsh and complementary therapist Gill Kerrigan to try to enhance the lives of residents at the 35-bed facility.
As a former palliative care nurse at St Luke's Hospice, Jill had seen the impact of such posts and the boost they could provide for patients and residents.
When a convalescence care contract with the local NHS ended in 2007, it also became apparent that residents were becoming more permanent. Jill said this made it even more important that issues of recreation and socialisation were higher up the priorities list. The home is also in the unique position of being run by a charitable trust, meaning that whatever money is made in profit can be put back into making the home the best it can be.
All these ideas have come together over the past three years since Jill took over to make changes to everything from the decor to the menu.
Jill, aged 42, said: "They had always been forward thinking at the home, but we wanted to look at how to improve further. We consulted with the residents here and we found that the biggest thing that was lacking was recreational and socialisation activities. This place is people's homes and we should be providing for their needs."
Gill started last March offering free treatments like aromathereapy, and massage and reflexology. They are also open to the adjoining sheltered housing residents at a discounted price - something which has proved very popular.
Jill, from Oughtibridge, said: "I'd seen how popular it was with patients in St Luke's - to have that one to one contact with someone was really positively received.
"It has taken a little while to get off the ground - some of the older residents didn't really realise what it was all about - but now it really seems to be taking off which is great."
Hilary's role as activities co-ordinator has also be very positively received: "It goes much deeper than bingo sessions," Jill said. "Our residents have got very varied backgrounds - some in legal, nursing, writers, directors and lecturers - a lot of them were professionals and they had varied interests. We've worked with them to find out what they wanted, rather than us saying you're doing this or you're doing that, and have tried to find out what makes them tick."
There are the more obvious activities - from a bridge club to a musical entertainer once a week, or silk scarf printing and flower arranging lessons.
But it has also seen Zena - who used to work in the theatre - visit the Crucible wardrobe department and take a tour of the refurbished site. Jill said the change in her had been dramatic.
"She went from deteriorating quite rapidly before Christmas to have a completely new sense of purpose," she said.
A group of residents have also visited the Sheffield Wheel to take a spin, and there are plans for an in-house newsletter about life at the home to be launched in the near future.
Jill said: "It will be edited by themselves. giving them control and a sense of meaning again. They'll also be getting some IT training from a volunteer so they'll learn new computer skills."
The computers are also allowing them to keep in touch with family who are abroad - contacting them via a webcam on Skype.
"They can look at each and talk to each other," Jill said. "They can maintain relationships with people they thought they might not ever see again which is great."
A physiotherapist also comes to visit Broomgrove twice a week, working with residents to keep them as independent and mobile as possible, while a writing therapist - who helps people use writing and expression as a way to ease pain and strengthen the immune system - is set to be the next familiar face at the home.
The environment of the place mirrors this positive and pioneering approach.
The communal areas are cosy and homely, with fresh flowers and plants, paintings on the walls and stocked book shelves. There's also a pleasant courtyard - a brilliant suntrap which is always packed in the summer - and a jolly dining area complete with proper linen table clothes and a gerbera in a vase in the centre.
The trust is also working to raise 60,000 through various fundraising activities to add an extension for a dedicated activities room.
Residents' rooms aren't standardised and clinical - each have their own individual style featuring a variety of different colours, designs and furniture.
They are also welcome to bring in their own furniture, photographs and decoration.
Ron Cowen is one of the residents who has really taken this on board.
His room wall is plastered with photos from his days as a fitness instructor with the RAF, which compete for space with Armed Forces-related newspaper clippings and medals.
Ron, aged 94, said he was glad to have all his personal belongings around him - reminding him of his former home in Crookes.
He said: "I like it at Broomgrove. The carers are all cheerful and look after you well. When the sun's out you can sit in the garden and I've enjoyed the people coming in to give talks about things, especially fitness and activity - that's always been my passion."
Zena is another happy resident, and said she was thrilled to have taken the trip to the Crucible.
"It was wonderful," she said. "I'd not been anywhere like that for a long time and it was great to go back - I never thought I would. It would be great to go and see some shows there too."
Jill said it made her happy to see residents content and thriving at the home.
"I don't want it to be a nursing home where people come and vegetate," she said. "They're not just sitting in a circle looking at the TV, they've got an active, worthwhile lifestyle.
"There's a high proportion of the population who are going to end up in a nursing home, so we have to make them vibrant, positive places."
Buy The Star - Monday to Saturday - for local news, sport, features and ads. To subscribe CLICK HERE
READ MORE
Main news index
Your letters
Features
South Yorkshire's environmental news
Kids Zone
More business news
More Rotherham news
More Doncaster news
More Barnsley news
Latest sport
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
