Care home residents jump aboard virtual cruise

Story by: ANDREW PAPWORTH Sunday, February 3, 2013
12:00 PM

CARE home residents were taken on a “virtual cruise” on Monday.

 

Cromwell Care Home, Huntingdon, are having a Virtual Cruise, resident Jackie Tulip (95) originally from Scotland meets Piper Roy Sloane, from LongstantonCromwell Care Home, Huntingdon, are having a Virtual Cruise, resident Jackie Tulip (95) originally from Scotland meets Piper Roy Sloane, from Longstanton

Cromwell House Care Home in Huntingdon High Street wanted to do something different to mark National Dignity Day, which takes place on Friday (February 1), so staff decided to stage a week-long series of activities to take the home’s 32 residents back to the cruises they enjoyed in years gone by.

“A lot of our residents have been on cruises in the past but they cannot go on cruises any more,” said general manager Linda Martinez. “We wanted to bring a taste of these countries back to them by taking them on a virtual cruise around different countries.”

The week started in Scotland, where residents enjoyed a haggis lunch and got to meet piper Roy Sloane. Other countries due to be included were France, Italy, Turkey and Ireland.

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/care_home_residents_jump_aboard_virtual_cruise_1_1848081

Dementia care apartments to be built in Redditch

A STATE-of-the-art development, including self-contained dementia care apartments aimed at keeping family and partners together, is being built in Redditch.

5:00pm Saturday 2nd February 2013 in News

The development, in Evesham Road, Headless Cross, will include 42 apartments along with communal facilities and a well-being centre.

The work involves the demolition of an existing building, built in the early 1900s and donated to the Red Cross by then owner Dorothy Terry, to be used as a care facility.

The new development will be known as Dorothy Terry House.

Life as a young carer

Sarah Thomas, 18, started looking after her mother, who has MS, from a very early age, and later became her dad’s carer too.

But she isn’t remotely bitter about missing out on the parts of growing up that others take for granted

Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas with her parents, Carole and Ray: ‘I’ve never met a young carer who hasn’t been bullied – we stand out.’ Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Ray Thomas chuckles as he recalls the sight of bread appearing to butter itself on the kitchen counter back when his daughter was at preschool. “Sarah couldn’t reach the counter to make sandwiches, so all you’d see is the bread and knife looking as though they were doing it themselves,” he says.

Sarah has been a carer for her mother, Carole, who has multiple sclerosis, since she was small. Then, when she became an adolescent and her father was diagnosed with degenerative bone disease and fibromyalgia, she had to become his carer too. “I’ve never known anything else,” says Sarah, who is now 18 and who continues to do everything from general household chores to helping with medication, providing physical assistance, filling in forms and many other day-to-day jobs.

“One of my earliest memories was being amazed to see my friend’s mum walking. I thought all mums were disabled and all dads worked long hours,” she says, as I talk to her and her parents at their terraced home in Shrewsbury. “But I can’t say I was disappointed when I found out that my mum was different,” she adds, thoughtfully. “It has meant she’s always been around and although it’s hard to say what I’d have been like if I hadn’t cared for her from a young age, I do know I’m very independent – far more so than most of my friends.”