‘It was really scary’ – how Sheffield dementia care home kept its residents safe during coronavirus crisis

Rosebank Care Home in Burngreave has looked after 21 residents through the pandemic, with not one of them getting ill and the home even celebrating resident Edna’s 100th birthday last month.

Deputy manager Amy Ward admitted this week that at the beginning of the pandemic it was ‘really scary’, but thanks to the support of their parent company Silver Healthcare and a set of ‘fantastically supportive’ families, the home got through lockdown unscathed.

“You want to protect your residents but we all had families to go home to,” said Amy.

“We were short-staffed as well so it was the same people day in, day out, working really long hours and the domestics on around the clock keeping everything clean.

“It was probably lucky we couldn’t go out at the beginning. It was just work, home, work, home.”

People with dementia have been especially hard hit by coronavirus so far, with the degenerative disease seen as one of the key factors that can cause patients who catch it to deteriorate rapidly.

Because of this, Amy said Rosebank locked down a week before the Government said they needed to, and haven’t allowed any visitors since.

The only people allowed into the home have been staff who are now swabbed weekly and have their temperatures taken every time they arrive.

And crucially, they have always had all the PPE they needed and have known how to use it safely and effectively.

However, just as important as keeping the deadly virus out of the home has been keeping life going on inside it.

“We have been trying to do as much as we can with the residents while they are not seeing their families,” said Amy.

“They don’t understand why they can’t see their families so we’ve been having zoom calls, writing letters, having outdoor parties with seaside themes and costumes and music for VE day.

“We also have set up a pub so people have been visiting the Rosebank Arms and having different foods and drinks. They have really enjoyed it.”

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