Finalist for The Frontline Leader Award

 Rebecca Blackmore:

Here are some of the things that our manager Sharron and the team have to say about Bex:

Rebecca who is known as Bex started working in our company in 2014.

Caring, compassionate and focused on helping and supporting people to be the best they can possibly be.

One of her strengths is also her cooking ability. Utilising this skill Bex is able to support individuals with healthy eating. She uses aids such as easy read menu’s and supportive technology, supporting individuals to understand the types of foods in their meals and understanding healthy options.

Bex has also inspired the individuals during house meetings to: choose a country, plan shopping lists, discuss a menu from the country, discuss utensils needed to make the meal, along with looking up information with individuals regarding the culture or the country. This will culminate once a month with the  person preparing the meal and hosting a lovely party. This creative use of skills in enhancing peoples lives and teaching independent living skills is wonderful and a real credit to Bex.

Her confidence has grown immensely, and this has transpired into Bex working and now achieving a senior role within Redcroft, taking on extra responsibilities such as Fire Marshal. Along with supporting staff as our advocate for dysphasia, oral health and supporting staff to be more confident in themselves.

She goes the extra mile when it comes to looking for fun ways to raise money for charities; Bex has helped to raise money for Macmillan, Red Nose Day and local Dorset charities. She rallies the residents round and gets them fully involved which gives people a sense of purpose and well-being. Bex has helped to raise awareness of these good causes and wanted the people she supports to feel a part of that experience. She is a shining example of a brilliant support worker and we are proud to nominate her for this award.

Thank you Bex for everything you do and we are all very proud of you.

The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards offer a unique opportunity to showcase and celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses in the learning disabilities and autism sector – people and organisations who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives. They aim to pay tribute to people who specifically support those with learning disabilities and autism and recognise inspirational individuals with a learning disability and/or autism who make a real difference within their communities.

— Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations

Our panel of judges, comprising residents and directors, had a very tough job choosing just one winner from the three beautiful cakes crafted by our staff teams as each home pitched against the other in a super-friendly competition.

Apple House care home’s cake won the taste test! The sponge was moist and utterly scrummy. Decorated with delicate sugar daisies and cute bees, it was as pretty as it was delicious. Summerwood care home’s cake wowed us all. In the design of our logo –a plump green apple– and with little sugar people circling the cake, it was so creative we were all speechless!

However, it was an Easter cake contest and Redcroft care home’s fabulous two-tiered masterpiece really was unsurpassed. With sugar bunnies having fun in chocolate ‘dirt’ and a carrot cake and chocolate/caramel centre, it simply had to win. As the bake-off was a friendly inter-team event it was fitting that the prize should be a night out for the winning team. In addition Redcroft wins a donation to be made in the home’s name to the Dorset Cancer Care Foundation, helping local families in their fight against cancer.

Thanks go to Redcroft for hosting the party which followed the cake judging, and to Apple House and Summerwood for their contributions to food and fun. With a number of games, many of which were hand-made by individuals living at Redcroft, all enjoyed an afternoon of great fun in the garden and patio.

Apple House care homes are proud to have joined John’s Campaign as part of our ethos of inclusion, of recognising the important role of family and friends to care residents’ wellbeing and personal identity.

“I quite like the title ‘Honoured Guests.  It reminds people, whether we are family or friends, that we are there as guests of the resident. This title also reinforces that staff and relatives should have one purpose, which is to support the person who is resident in the care home, and that their contribution is well-regarded.” — Professor Martin Green.

Within the publication, ‘Honoured Guests,’ Apple House care homes are referenced:

Care England is a registered charity and the leading representative body for independent care services in England.

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We are delighted to again participate in Macmillan Cancer Support’s annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.  Apple House care home hosted theirs this morning: cake baking and cake eating were the order of the day!

 Jayne Jackson, Registered Manager, says, “It was lovely to see children here this morning, who had great fun picking up the apples that had freshly fallen from our tree.”  We suspect the apples might not have been quite as tasty as the cakes but definitely offered a healthy alternative!

Apple House Ltd always double all donations received in our homes’ fundraising endeavours.  

We think Macmillan nurses do an incredible job and here’s a little more about them:

To find out about hosting your own Macmillan coffee morning next year, or to make a donation, hop over to their website today! CLICK HERE

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We are thrilled to be able to benefit from a quite remarkable charitable organisation called New Forest and District Sailability.

NFDS state on their website:

New Forest and District Sailability (NFDS) is based at Spinnaker Sailing Club, Ringwood and enables people with disabilities to enjoy the exciting sport of sailing. You can learn to sail a dinghy, sit back and relax whilst someone else takes you for a trip, take part in races.

All this within the safe confines of our beautiful lake in the heart of the New Forest.

As you can see from our photos, (kindly shared with the permission of those featured), Sailability is quite simply FUN!  D and J once again demonstrated their prowess in steering and navigation, while C supervised the entire operation from HQ (café).

In addition to sailing, D will also be undertaking waterskiing lessons with Sailability during the summer.  This is not the first time that he has mastered this very difficult challenge so we look forward to cheering from the lakeside again!  Our very own ‘James Bond,’ D will also be taking to the air in a helicopter to celebrate a milestone birthday, having previously had a flying lesson in a light aircraft.

— JM

Summerwood care home will be holding a cake sale in aid of Red Nose Day and World Autism Awareness Week (which is next week but hey, CAKE!) plus there is a sweepstake underway.

Redcroft care home are holding a LEGS ELEVEN bingo afternoon on Sunday 2nd April also in aid of the above charities.

Apple House care home are holding various fun activities this coming Saturday.

As a company, we always match pound for pound any money raised for charity.

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We really don’t need an excuse to eat cake but, if we did, there would be no greater and more worthwhile reason to do so than to raise money for WAAW.

Between 27th March – 2nd April 2017, The National Autistic Society (NAS) is asking people to raise money and awareness so that ‘as many people as possible learn about autism.’  They urge everyone to ‘bake, walk, quiz, collect…until everyone understands.’

Apple House homes are rising to the challenge, we’ll be posting here in the next few days to let you know how we are going to raise money and awareness for WAAW.  One thing’s for sure: it’s going to be a lot of fun!

What is autism?

The NAS define autism as ‘a lifelong, developmental disability that affects how a person communicates and relates to other people, and how they experience the world around them.’

Often, alongside the communication and experiential effects of autism, can be additional challenges with which individuals with autism live.  These are extensive and diverse and certainly too comprehensive to list in this post.  For further information on living with autism, please click HERE

––JM, Apple House Care Homes.

BILD is an organisation that champion’s people’s rights and enables support.

Professor Gerry Simon set up BILD in 1971 because he was convinced there could be better support in the community for people with disabilities.  BILD has been championing the rights of people with disabilities ever since.

BILD uses its skills, knowledge and experience to turn policy into practice, solve problems and improve support. In working with Government departments, local authorities, health trusts, service providers and mainstream organisations, their aim is to improve the quality of the lives of people with disabilities. ––BILD Website

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Receiving no government funding for their research, they are completely dependent on the generosity of supporters to fund their pioneering research programme.

“Alzheimers is a disease that causes dementia. It is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for about two-thirds of cases in the elderly”–Alzheimers Research Uk.

Typical early symptoms of Alzheimers include:

• Regularly forgetting recent events, names and faces.
• Becoming increasingly repetitive.
• Regularly misplacing items or putting them in odd places.
• Confusion about the time of day.
• Disorientation, especially away from your normal surroundings.
• Getting lost.
• Problems finding the right words.
• Mood or behaviour problems such as apathy, irritability, or losing confidence.

Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, but the speed of change varies from person to person.

As Alzheimers progresses:

• People will find that their ability to remember, think and make decisions worsens.
• Communication and language become more difficult.
• A person’s behaviour may change and some people can become sad or depressed.
• Anxieties or phobias are quite common.
• People may experience hallucinations, where they may see things or people that aren’t there.
• Problems with sleeping and restlessness at night often occur.
• Anger or agitation become more common.
• People may become increasingly unsteady on their feet and fall more often.
• People gradually require more help with daily activities like dressing, toileting and eating.

At Apple House, we have first hand experience of the debilitating effects of the above symptoms; this is a degenerative disease that doesn’t only affect the very elderly.  We know that by supporting Alzheimers Research Uk with a monthly donation it is still not enough.  They need your support too, to help them continue their pioneering work that focuses on prevention, treatment and a cure.

DONATE HERE

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