How quickly COVID-19 changed the lives of our staff and care home residents. Almost overnight, things we had taken for granted, such as outings and family visits, were no longer possible. 

Naturally, the priority was to help everyone stay healthy and protect residents and staff at our three care homes against the virus. But care is a much bigger picture. As well as taking care of physical health and providing personal care, a care home is also there to promote good emotional and mental wellbeing. Our care teams were determined to carry on doing this despite the changes forced on us by both of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Good nutrition is the foundation of good physical and mental health. The early days of the lockdown emptied supermarket shelves and led to national shortages of some foodstuffs, Altogether Care worked closely with our suppliers to ensure we could continue serving healthy meals to the residents of our three care homes.

Keeping the Activities Going

A normal week in our homes would feature a range of activities such as art, crafts and music. We have been pleased to welcome organisations into our homes to run these activities for many years. The pandemic meant that this was no longer possible – so our staff stepped in to make sure these highly valued activities could carry on.

Some of our staff brought other skills into play so that residents could still experience the feel-good factor of having their hair and nails done.

Family visits were, of course, much missed. Like many organisations across the world, we’ve become experts in using Zoom. A video call is never quite the same as seeing a loved one in person and getting a big hug. But until the hugs make a comeback, helping our residents to make Zoom calls is a vital way to help them stay connected with family, friends and the world outside.

Hopefully the UK can get on top of the virus and everything can get back to normal soon. In the meantime, you can be reassured that we’re doing all we can to look after the wellbeing of our residents.

For more information on COVID-19 and Altogether Care, find out more here. For any other queries, contact the team at Altogether Care on 01202 894 925 or email contact@altogethercare.co.uk.