“When someone moves to a care home, it’s a big transition from being in their own home, where they have their own things, their history, what they love to do. So it’s important when they move here that they have something they can do, and enjoy, whether that’s on their own, one on one, or as part of a group. Not everyone enjoys group activities, and that’s fine – it’s always their choice.”
This personalised approach to care is something that the activities team at Merrivale practise with both professionalism and empathy.
“For our residents it’s about having something meaningful, and enjoyable, in their days. For us, it’s about keeping our residents engaged and happy. Our activities vary week to week, so we’ll catch up with our residents once a month to find out what they’d like to do in the month ahead – often its outings, a special activity, a recipe they’d like to make, things like that. We have regular yoga classes on Mondays, one for our retirement village and rest home residents, and a mindfulness-focused session for our hospital residents. We’ve recently had some new residents move in who are quite artistic, so we’ve got them leading an art class in one of our lounges.”
Quizzes are a popular activity at the care home. “We do lots of quizzes with different themes to cater for everybody’s different abilities and strengths. Some of the quizzes are visual for example, for residents who can no longer read. It’s all about talking and capturing attention, asking questions. Sometimes our residents will have difficulty thinking of a word, but when they get it their faces light up – ‘Oh I remember that!’ they’ll say.” Keen quizzers have also taken part in Battle of the Brains – a local inter-village competition which saw residents from Merrivale Care Home travel to Dargaville and take out the title no less!
“Local trips like this also provide an opportunity for residents to catch up with extended family such as cousins, or friends, who live nearby. We also have students from a local school come to visit our residents, they love coming here. They’ll challenge the residents to a competition, recently we had a paper dart throwing competition, and a session where our residents taught the kids how to bowl.
Residents also enjoy a variety of bingo games, including card bingo and music bingo, with the beloved chocolate fish a popular prize. “Variety is essential for our residents, as well as emotional support. It’s about knowing someone has compassion and will treat you with dignity.
When we have residents who choose to stay in their rooms, we try to encourage them to come out and join in a little more.”
“One of our residents was very quiet when she first arrived and chose to stay in her room. She’s a little success story really, as she’s just hilarious now and has also encouraged her brother, who is also a resident, to come out to the lounge more and enjoy some games of bingo or bowls. Another resident who moved here from our retirement village was also quite resistant to the idea of joining in activities, but turns out she loves cooking, and she was up at the table recently with everyone getting involved with a special recipe.”
“It’s about finding the things that interest our residents – if they can see it’s not scary, or they’re not going to look silly if they can’t do something.”
“Sometimes residents can’t come out of their rooms as much, especially if they’re not well. So we just try to get them involved if we can. Our team do one-on-ones in the mornings, visiting residents who aren’t able to come out of their rooms. This is great because it allows them to get an idea of where the resident is at, what support they need, if there is anything more we can do for them. We have little one-on-one boxes, with different bits and pieces in there.”
Outings provide a chance for residents to connect with the local community and enjoy a change of pace. Recent trips include the botanical gardens (Botanica Whangārei) and Jack Morgan Museum, as well as visits to other care homes in the area such as Bupa Totara Gardens. Residents also enjoyed a trip to Habitat for Humanity ReStore after an art class project at the care home inspired a visit in search of old picture frames. It wasn’t only picture frames that were pored over either – sewing machines, clothes and even a telescope were hot property!
