There’s no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year, and at Hales Homecare, we take our responsibility to our service users and carers very seriously.

As well as offering physical care at home, we work to help maintain and improve the mental health and wellness of both our service users and carers, especially during this time.

Much of the everyday interaction that our service users previously enjoyed with family and friends has been incredibly limited in the past twelve months or so, which is why we’ve rolled out our latest initiatives to give our service users plenty of activities to keep them fit and healthy, both physically and mentally.

Background
As part of our broader initiative to support our service users, their families and our committed care staff to help them remain positive during Lockdown 3, we’ve rolled out the following initiatives, which aim to promote wellness, physical health and self-care:
• Weekly activity sheets, including quizzes, fun trivia, word searches and puzzles.
• We’re continuing our online Zumba class from the first lockdown last year, and we’ve recently uploaded a brand-new video.
• Seasonal activities.
• Health and wellbeing guides.

Weekly Activity Sheets

Each week in January to March, we’ll be sending out a new activity worksheet to our service users and carers. This can be in the form of a quiz, crossword, Wordsearch or a puzzle.

These help our service users remain engaged and keep them busy when they aren’t able to enjoy the company of their friends and family or go out as they may have previously been able to do.

Here’s what Kirton Lindsey service user M. Travis had to say when she called her local branch, “I’d like to thank Hales for the worksheets I’ve been receiving; what a lovely idea during these dull days and thank you for being such a great company.”

Online Zumba Class

We launched our free online Zumba programme during the first lockdown in March 2020 to encourage engagement and light-hearted fun while keeping everyone fit and energised at home.

Following its success, we are continuing our partnerships with professional Zumba instructor Andy Brown, to maintain our fitness and wellness programme into 2021.

You can find a full list of the classes available here >

RSPB Birdwatch

In 2021, we’ll also be putting together a range of supplementary activities themed around the time of year – the first of which was the RSPB Birdwatch.

This event takes place annually between the 29th and 31st of January and many of our staff and service users signed up through the official RSPB website.

However, outside of the formal bird count, we also put together a Garden Bird poster, which our service users, carers, and their families can enjoy throughout the year. This is a great way to keep kids and grandchildren engaged during home-schooling.

This could also be an excellent Zoom activity, where service users and their families try to spot as many of the British birds on the poster as possible in a set timeframe.

A-Z Healthy Food Guide

We’ll also be sending out frequent guides to our service users and carers. The first guide is called the A-Z Healthy Food Guide, which is designed to start an open dialogue between service users, carers, and their families as to the benefits of ensuring the right balance of healthy foods, vitamins and minerals in their diets.

This is vital throughout the winter months, but now more than ever it’s imperative that we are all maintaining a healthy balance of food, minerals and vitamins.

24 hour Wellbeing Helpline for Staff

Recognising the early signs of anxiety and stress is vital in supporting staff to manage and maintain good mental health. Our staff helpline, along with our relevant and accessible Intranet portal, also provides valuable signposting, guidance and confidential independent support with family, property and financial issues which ensures our team get the help they need, when they need it.

If you have any questions about our approach to mental and physical wellbeing or are interested in any of the services we can provide, do not hesitate to contact us today.