This gallery contains 12 photos.
THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF A SERIES OF BLOGS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS DESCRIBING SOME OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE EXTRACARE CHARITABLE TRUST. THIS WAS THE ORGANISATION I FOUNDED AND WORKED FOR FROM 1987 THROUGH TO THE TIME I … Continue reading
Some interesting research published in The Oxford Post Graduate Medical Journal about the risk of getting dementia.
The bad news is that people who are obese in middle age are 50% more likely to develop dementia in later life. It is a pity no one told me that when I was 30! There again, at that age I barely knew what dementia was and I doubt I would have stopped eating all those pies or having the odd pint or two or three.
The good news in this study is that people in their 70’s were no more likely to develop dementia. So in a few years’ time I can eat all the pies I like. Furthermore, the over 80’s are 20% less likely to develop the disease, so that’s why the pub car parks are full of mobility scooters at lunch time 🙂
(For other more serious posts on this subject, click on Dementia in the Topics list).
THIS IS PART OF WHAT WILL BE A SERIES OF BLOGS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS DESCRIBING SOME OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE EXTRACARE CHARITABLE TRUST. THIS WAS THE ORGANISATION I FOUNDED AND WORKED FOR FROM 1987 THROUGH TO THE TIME I RETIRED IN 2010. I HOPE IT WILL INSPIRE OTHERS TO LOOK AT NEW WAYS OF LIVING IN LATER LIFE.
For other blogs in this series, click on “ExtraCare Traditions” in the TAG CLOUD
In 1992 the Olympics were held in Barcelona and in The ExtraCare Charitable Trust we decided to have our own version of the games for the residents of our nursing homes and the extracare housing schemes. This was our first “Sports Day” which was held at Ernesford Grange Leisure Centre in Coventry. Several hundred residents attended, wheelchairs, zimmer frames and all. There weren’t any Paralympics at the time, otherwise I am sure some of our residents would have wished to compete in them.
The games we selected were designed to enable all residents to be able to take part. Table skittles was one of the easiest challenges but we also had a wheelchair obstacle course, a mobile scooter driving experience, netball, football, archery and climbing. A sort of schools sports day for grans and granddads.
The biggest challenge was skiing with Eddie the Eagle Edwards, which on the day we did on a snowboard which an artificial ski slope. It was a particularly hard challenge, especially for some of the more disabled residents but Eddie Edwards was a great coach and encouraged many residents to have a go. In the years ahead we used many TV and Sports personalities to add to the glamour of the events we held.
We also continued with many of the sports we started and below is a resident on a dry ski slope at the Ackers Trust in Birmingham.
After this first sports day we set up “Activity Captains” in each of our schemes and the promotion of a whole variety of sports created a whole range of opportunities for our residents. They became more and more adventurous as time went on and included:-
CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING ARCHERY SNOOKER BOWLS
SAILING, FIRSTLY ON LOCAL LAKES AND LATER ON A TALL SHIP ACROSS THE CHANNEL AND IN SAILING BOATS IN GREECE
WALKING THE PENINE WAY AND LATER ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
CYCLING FROM LANDS END TO JOHN O’GROATS (IN THE FITNESS CENTRES)
CLIMBING ON LEISURE CENTRE CLIMBING WALLS AND LATER RISING TO THE THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE
THE PHOTOGRAPH BELOW IS RATHER MORE SEDATE BUT JUST AS EXCITING. A GROUP OF RESIDENTS TROUT FISHING ON THE LAKES AT COOMBE ABBEY IN COVENTRY.
In 2006 our sporting ambitions culminated in us sending 10 residents to Melbourne in Australia to attend the Commonwealth Games. This time they were just spectators but courtesy of a contact we had with the Welsh athlete Alan Pascoe, and also our long standing association with Geoff Capes, our residents were able to attend a BBC reception and meet many famous athletes at the time.
WE NEVER DID THINGS BY HALVES IN EXTRACARE !
THIS IS PART OF WHAT WILL BE A SERIES OF BLOGS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS DESCRIBING SOME OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE EXTRACARE CHARITABLE TRUST. THIS WAS THE ORGANISATION I FOUNDED AND WORKED FOR FROM 1987 THROUGH TO THE TIME I RETIRED IN 2010. I HOPE IT WILL INSPIRE OTHERS TO LOOK AT NEW WAYS OF LIVING IN LATER LIFE.
For other blogs in this series, click on “ExtraCare Traditions” in the TAG CLOUD
Many of the ideas we developed in ExtraCare started from very small beginnings. The third nursing home we opened was called Sherbourne House in Coventry and one day I got talking to a tiny little lady, all scrunched up in a wheelchair with a blanket over her knees – her name was Sarah Cresswell. Although she was riddled with arthritis, she always had a cheery smile on her face. One day when I was talking to her, I asked her about the food and she told me that it was very good except for the cabbage. The catering system was a cook chill service provided by the local hospital and cabbage seemed to be one of the things they just could not get right.
Over the next few days, I mused on this and wondered why we could not get something as simple as cooking cabbage right. I went out to a local greengrocer, bought two fresh cabbages, took them back to Sarah and assured her that the staff would cook them if she asked nicely. That very much embodied the “can do culture” that we were trying to instil in all the staff in ExtraCare. But it also highlighted for me the importance of walking the floor, listening to residents and most of all, acting on what they said.
In the photograph below, you can see Sarah Cresswell having a swimming lesson with physiotherapist Freda Laye and two care staff. This was one of her later suggestions.
Shortly after this, we set up the “Buzzwords” suggestion scheme throughout ExtraCare. Every nursing home and extracare housing scheme had a “Buzzwords Beehive” post box designed and built by Andy Hillier, our Development Director. Residents were able to post any suggestion in the box and once a month the box was opened by the “Buzzwords” Captain and the responses to the suggestions were decided by the Captain and a group of residents in each location.
As the whole suggestion scheme became more popular, we held a promotion day at Coombe Abbey Banqueting Suite in Coventry. Based on a medieval theme, the residents were all dressed up as Kings and Queens and the staff were dressed as serfs. The programme for the day, including the entertainment and the refreshments, was determined by suggestions by the residents and the staff had to find a way of fulfilling their wishes. Failure to do so resulted in the staff being placed in stocks and the residents then throwing wet sponges at them.
The symbolism of the event was designed to emphasise that residents’ views are paramount and staff should endeavour to always adopt a “can do” attitude rather than finding reasons why things cannot be achieved. This was a far cry from the culture that existed in nursing and residential care at the time and in many places still to this day.
In its hay-day the “Buzzwords” scheme received over 3,500 suggestions a year. There were small token prizes for every suggestor, every month. The best overall suggestion each month was awarded a David Winter ceramic cottage. Gradually these started to appear on mantelpieces, sideboards and bedside tables all over ExtraCare. Most suggestions cost nothing to implement other than a little time and thought but Captains were free to spend up to £100 on each suggestion. The naysayer’s would say that if everybody spent a £100 this would cost us an arm and a leg – £350,000. Thankfully my Board of Trustees and my fellow Directors shared the ExtraCare vision and nobody ever suggested a 3 week holiday in the Caribbean 🙂 Well not straight away, although more of this later.
The all-time best suggestor was a lovely lady called Elsie Norbury who came up with several suggestions every month for all the time she lived in one of our nursing homes. For this she received a solid gold brooch of the ExtraCare logo (Rufus). When Elsie died, her daughter asked for her to be buried with her Rufus badge.
THIS IS THE START OF WHAT WILL BE A SERIES OF BLOGS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS DESCRIBING SOME OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE EXTRACARE CHARITABLE TRUST. THIS WAS THE ORGANISATION I FOUNDED AND WORKED FOR FROM 1987 THROUGH TO THE TIME I RETIRED IN 2010. I HOPE IT WILL INSPIRE OTHERS TO LOOK AT NEW WAYS OF LIVING IN LATER LIFE.
For other blogs in this series, click on “ExtraCare Traditions” in the TAG CLOUD
From the very beginning of our days in ExtraCare we always saw older people as unique individuals, with great stories to tell and a host of hidden talents. For many people their natural sense of modesty kept them from seeing anything remarkable in their lives. For others lack of confidence, or fear of being embarrassed, stopped them from having a go at things. One of our core values was ” AGE IS NO BARRIER TO ACHIEVING THINGS”. This is not always easy to believe when you are beset by the ravages of old age. Over the years we set out to enable everyone to be able to live up to that value — staff, relatives and most of all residents themselves.
The lady in the photograph below is one of our earliest finds. Her name is May Bastock, she lived in one of our first nursing homes at Abbey Park in Coventry. One day in a sing-a-long organised by my activities team leader – Mike Hallam – he noticed that May’s voice stood out among all the rest. She said she had only ever sung at home on washing days, but she had a concert level contralto quality in her voice. A few weeks later and after much persuasion, Mike got May to record a record and it was played on the local radio station and she was featured in the local press. Not quite the X Factor, but pretty good for a lady of 90 !
In the following years there were many more stories like this. Each one different, but all giving a lie to the idea that old people are ” old, past it and useless”.
Eventually in 1998 to celebrate The ExtraCare Charitable Trust’s 10th birthday, we published a book called “EVERYONE’S GOT A STORY TO TELL”. It was collated and written by Maureen Hall, an Assistant Nursing Home Manager and Jeanne Elston our “Roundabout” newspaper Editor, from the memories and experiences of a host of residents who came to live with us in those early days.
In my enthusiasm I had 10,000 printed and I am sure we must have sold at least 100 copies 🙂 But, it set a path for the years ahead, that everyone is special and that age really is no barrier with a little encouragement and support.
I have always believed the adage that “breakfast sets you up for the rest of the day”. I can never resist the “full English”, finished off with toast and Frank Cooper’s original marmalade – thick cut! (See my earlier blogs on this subject by clicking on “Breakfast” in the TAG CLOUD”).
Of course it is only an occasional treat, usually when on holiday or staying in a hotel on business. The rest of the time, breakfast is Muesli and Yoghurt or 2 minute porridge oats. Still, either way you are off to a good start.
Remember:
Well now some myth busting, party poopping, thin-as-a-rake researchers at the University of Bath, have suggested that those who don’t eat breakfast, consume less calories over the whole day. They say that eating breakfast has little impact on snacking or portion sizes later in the day.
This is not what I want to hear. I would be grumpy all day without at least some breakfast. I think rather than busting myths and spreading misery, they would be better off spreading:
Raised in 2013 in a think tank paper by the Policy Exchange, bungalows have now resurfaced as a new Government policy.
The title of this blog is my nickname for the recently appointed Minister of Housing and Planning – Mr Brandon Lewis. Few Housing Ministers last in post very long, because few Governments of any political complexion manage to develop a serious long-term housing policy. Certainly not one which will address the country’s housing shortage.
A consequence of this is that each new Housing Minister feels obliged to come up with a comprehensive strategy within weeks of their appointment. This is especially true if there is an election less than 12 months away. Of course, in these circumstances, the need is to grab headlines and capture votes rather than build anything at all.
Mr Lewis’s new gimmick is good old bungalows. What a unique idea? Drawn from the 1950’s and 60’s, so not exactly new.
The problem is that Bungalow Brandon has not been reading my blog (see “Bungalow Mindset” and “Bungalow Metaphors” in the Archive dated September 2013).
If he had been he would know that bungalows take up rather a lot of land, which the planning half of his department will oppose till their dying day. That is why only 2% of homes in England are bungalows. In 2009 only 300 were built.
At least Mr Brandon Lewis sees the need for more retirement housing to free up homes for families. Estimates suggest 2.2 million more homes will be needed by 2021 of which the over 65’s will make up 1.2 million. It is a mammoth task that deserves much more than sound bite political answers.
Take the shackles off the planning system; speed up development; seed fund retirement housing and promote new forms of equity release financial models that allow wider access to retirement housing. These are strategic ways forward though I doubt Mr Brandon will have had time to consider them in the short time since he has been appointed. Neither are they quick fix issues since they probably require changes in legislation, all of which takes time.
Older people and housing developers could tell Bungalow Brandon what to do, but I doubt that he will listen.
I noticed on GrumbleSmiles today I had a visitor from the Dominican Republic and it prompted me to look at the statistics you get from WordPress. This is one of the nice things about blogging, you get very rapid analysis on what you write about, even if visitors to the site don’t make a comment you can see roughly where they are from. This is the first visitor I have ever had from the Dominican Republic. Thank you and I hope you will come back sometime.
Naturally, the UK is by far my most popular audience, with over 14,000 blog visitors since 2012. The next highest groups of viewers in order are from USA, Brazil, Canada and India. In all I have had visits from 104 different countries, including single visitors from as far afield as Swaziland, Nigeria, Guyana, Georgia, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
When I was young I used to collect stamps and I still remember the excitement of getting a stamp from a new location. Most of my geographic quiz knowledge comes from that happy childhood era. In future I will look more closely at my viewers and see if I can widen my appeal to even more locations. Just like collecting stamps again 🙂
My most popular topics are Health , Research and Pills. Individual blogs about “Happiness”, “Pensions” and “Assisted Suicide” have been the most visited, which is a rather strange mixture, but I guess it represents the issues that are most on older peoples minds. My most popular blogs in terms of visits have been “The £140 Pension” and “New Vision of Later Life “, which obviously reflect peoples hopes for the future.
The above figures do not include the 64,00 spam visitors who have landed on the site. I my childhood Spam was wonderful cooked in batter. Spam fritters were a favourite then, spam posts ought to go the same way.
I am not trying to court popularity for the sake of it. Rather I hope to learn and influence the way people think about the older generation.
I will update this next, when I hopefully get some other visitors from far away places.
Here is another step towards 7-a-day. (See earlier posts by clicking on “EMFV” in the TAG CLOUD).
According to six recent studies from the American Society of Nutrition in San Diego – there is a snack with wonder properties. So many in fact that you wonder why they have not been discovered before —- unless of course you are spaced out in California.
ALMONDS
High in protein
Nutrient rich
Supresses apetite
Staves off disease
High in monounsaturated fats
High in magnesium and manganese
High in Vitamin E
Protects against UV light damage
And Alzheimer’s
A wonder cure in a handful of nuts! What’s not to like?
There again San Diego is in California and they are a bit prone to wonder.
The private residential care sector grew rapidly in the 1980’s and 1990’s as the elderly population expanded. The construction of new homes was funded by expensive venture capital on the promise of high financial returns, underpinned by Government support for publicly funded residents.
Companies like Takecare, Westminster Healthcare, Ashbourne Homes, Care First, Southern Cross, Craigmore and Four Seasons, all emerged from nowhere. They now look after many thousands of vulnerable elderly people. Albeit many of the companies have gone bust along the way, changed their names and merged with others.
In the last decade, Government funds have remained at a standstill while the elderly population continues to grow. The consequence of which is that the once profitable residential care sector is much more financially constrained as Social Services and the NHS hold down residential care fees.
Now the venture capitalists are less happy with the market outlook for their investments. Anonymously named finance companies like KKR, CINVEN, APAX, TERRAFIRMA, BLACKSTONE, TOWERBROOK, BAIN CAPITAL and WAUD CAPITAL PARTNERS; none of them are exactly household names in terms of care of the elderly. They are there to make money not to make elderly people happy.
Now a small group of care workers striking for better wages have got these multi-million pound vultures worried. The prospect of improved pay for care workers will put their returns under even more pressure.
The catch 22 is that the Government does not have more money to pay higher fees and even if they did, they fear increased fees would only result in better returns for vulture / venture capitalists. It is highly unlikely to result in either higher pay for care staff or improved quality of service to residents.
Private sector residential care was built by cowboy builders on foundations of sand and the sector continues to be in trouble.
You can find the history of Southern Cross’s demise by clicking in the TAG CLOUD on Southern Cross.
