Summerford House

Summerford House Care Home- Carolanne Campbell

When our centre went into lockdown with the rest of the country it very quickly became a very isolated and emotionally difficult time for many of our service users, our once busy service went from being a hive of activity with service users and families coming together daily to a very quiet service with no buzz about it.

In light of lockdown and people shielding my street had created a Facebook support page and lettered all the neighbours offering support of any kind needed to anyone who needed it. Posts went up daily seeking and offering practical support but also offering emotional support and positive thoughts. Some families were finding it difficult to entertain their children so I had suggested on the group if any children wanted a task to do they could draw a picture of a rainbow or something else nice for our older people. 

My letterbox was inundated the next day with lots of hand written letters and lovely pictures for our service users. There was enough for nearly every service user to have one each, when I took them in to work a few days later and assisted by our Activities Therapist distributed them to our service users the building was filled with joy, laughter, conversation and reminiscing.

The service users wanted to send replies and so they did, the children were delighted with these and so continued a flurry of letters and pictures going back and forth between the service users and children. This went on for many weeks, the service users would send the children puzzles or quizzes they had been working on to see if the children could do them and although no-one met in person they formed real relationships, my neighbours children still ask me about some of the ladies they were writing to. All of these service users have since returned home and been able to have that bond with their own families again but I can certainly say that receiving a letter or a picture was definitely the highlight of their day, bringing so much joy to them in what was quite an isolating time but also sparking conversations and memories about their own childhood or their own children growing up. A little light and love for all concerned in what were difficult times.