Greensleeves Care Home ‘Unlocks The Love’

With care homes across the country being in lockdown due to coronavirus restrictions, a Greensleeves Care home in Lowestoft found an innovative way to connect their care home residents with their love ones.

The residents at Harleston House care home in Lowestoft, which specialises in dementia care, wanted to tell their loved ones that they love them and miss them.  To help them achieve their wish and help residents in sending a personal message to their families, the ‘unlock the love’ project was created.

Jenny, a care home resident did a fantastic job cutting out 60 cards by hand with an image of the heart at the centre. Thirty cards with messages were sent by post and 30 by a big balloon that was released from the care home’s garden.

Each card had a replica that was posted out two days before the balloon was launched. The cards had the message of love from the resident with instructions to go into their garden and reach up to receive their message from the balloon and have a picture taken when doing so. They then were told by sending the photo to Harleston House with their love to their loved ones at the care home. Each time a picture arrived the residents were shown the photo and it was posted on the care home’s Facebook page.

The initiative proved very popular with relatives posting the photos and sharing their messages.  It also came at a good time as the home is celebrating World Well Being Week through the whole of June rather than just the week.

Gareth Harding, Activity Coordiantor at Harleston House, said: “Wellbeing is always key for us at Harleston House and this project has helped us celebrate it as a home with a new initiative and also to create an activity that involved residents and relatives was fantastic and fitting”.