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.

Simple things like baking bring us together. With this in mind, our teams have worked hard to create little masterpieces of Springtime joy.

Yes, the Great Apple House Bake Off is today!

This afternoon the Easter Bunny (aka our MD, Jane, but don’t tell anyone) will be amongst a panel of residents who will have the near impossible task of selecting a winning cake (and tasting it of course). The winning cake will earn its team a sparkly night out as well as a mega cheque for Dorset Cancer Care Foundation as a thank you from us to them for all that they do in our community to ease the trials of cancer-suffering families.

The Apple House Easter party will kick off at Redcroft and is sure to be eggxactly what we all need to round off the Easter celebration today.

Finally, I went to the shop this morning and bought twelve Slinkies in their spring sale! (yes, terrible joke, groan!)

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

🔊 Listen to this

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.

🔊 Listen to this
        
    

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

🔊 Listen to this