Going above and beyond for residents and their families
Like many care homes across the country, it’s been a tough few weeks for Ashley Lodge, who care for residents with a range of needs including residential, nursing and dementia. But with great leadership and a dedicated team, they have adapted to the changes and the challenges to continue to provide high-quality care for their residents.As well as keeping residents physically well, the home is focusing on making sure the residents are happy, stimulated and maintain a sense of normality. They make sure there is always a variety of activities and pass time for residents of all abilities to choose from – both in the home and outside in the garden if the weather is warm.
Since the home closed its doors to visitors it’s been a difficult and worrying time for residents and their loved ones who are used to having regular interaction with each other. To overcome this, Ashley Lodge has made use of technology so residents and their relatives can see and talk to each other regularly via video calls – a whole new experience for a lot of residents. The home also makes the most of their Facebook page to post updates on what the residents are getting up to and to send messages to loved ones. It’s also a great channel for the relatives’ family and friends to send messages to them for the home to pass on.
The team were also conscious that relatives and friends often bring in a resident’s favourite treats when they visit and that they would be missing these. To ensure they didn’t go without and again, to maintain some sense of normality for residents, members of the team buy the treats they know the residents like when they are shopping.
The entire team at Ashley Lodge continues to go above and beyond during a difficult time, working long hours and extra shifts, cancelling annual leave, taking on new responsibilities and anything else they can do to ensure residents are safe and well. Their hard work and dedication certainly haven’t gone unnoticed though. They have been overwhelmed by the support and acts of kindness shown to them from relatives, friends of the home and the local community – from uplifting postcards of kindness from school children and thank you letters to deliveries of food goodies.
Ashley Lodge provides residential, nursing and specialist dementia care for anyone over fifty-five and is rated 9.1 on carehome.co.uk.
