Healthwatch Norfolk was invited to visit Badgers Wood Care Home in Drayton to visit one of their regular sessions where young people from the local community spend time with residents. In the blog below, you can read more about the thinking behind it, and also watch a video recapping the highlights of our visit:
The secret behind the magic ingredient for feeling truly valued
by Anne Riches, Regional Manager of Saturn Healthcare Ltd
In health and social care we often talk about “holistic care” and really feeling valued. But what does this mean in reality? How can we truly reach for the stars to achieve this? I think the answer may be closer to home than you think.
Research suggests that the true meaning of being valued as individuals stems from being needed, having a purpose and a place in society. Studies have also shown that intergenerational links have enormous potential benefits to all parties. The two go hand in hand. The young can learn social and intellectual skills from the old, and the old may gain a renewed zest for life, may rekindle past interests, as well as widening their field of social engagement opportunities.
Children possess a wonderful and unique gift of engaging and connecting on all levels. No fear. No prejudice. No judgement. The sky’s the limit. It is these elements that give us an insight into the key to success behind social and intergenerational engagement.
Badgers Wood Care Home in Drayton, Norwich owned by Saturn Healthcare Ltd have gone back to basics when considering the ingredients to success with community engagement and partnership working. The conclusions were that a diverse “outside the box” approach was the way forward when reaching out to onboard potential new stakeholders.
Their advice?
Sit down with your residents and think of the easiest and the wildest ideas you can, then work backwards.
Ask yourself these key questions:
Who might be interested in getting involved?
Which groups of your local demographic could this benefit most?
Why would others want to be involved with this?
Are the benefits measurable with the scope to replicate in other areas?
Every service is unique but the fundamentals of having fun and getting involved with what’s going on around you (unless of course you’ve built a care facility in the middle of a field truly in the middle of nowhere and nothingness).
Never forget that having fun shouldn’t be expensive and budgetary constraints should be little or none at all, to make the simplest of community connections happen. People who genuinely buy into the concept shouldn’t be looking to profit from it.
In our experience, usually the best things in life are free!
You can watch a video with highlights of our visit below:
