ridgeway rise ridgeway herald · 2020-06-11 · ridgeway rise may 2020 children’s book day we...

May 2020

Ridgeway Rise

Ridgeway Herald

The Manager’s Welcome

Dear All,

Thank you for your continuous support and

understanding for all the measures we have been

implementing. I’d like to reassure you that Ridgeway Rise

remains a safe place for your loved ones. We have sufficient

supplies of PPE, team members are following all

recommended infection control procedures. There is also no

shortage of laughter, positivity and fun. We are not going to let

this crisis lower our morale.

We are looking forward to seeing you all on the other side of

this trying situation.

Bella Balaci

Inside this issue:

• Easter

• Charlie Chaplin’s Day

• Hymns

• Exclusive interview

with Rosemary

• St George’s Day

And more….

May 2020 Ridgeway Rise

Letters

We keep receiving lovely letters of support and with updates from the

friends in our community. Children from local schools invited us to a game:

their letters included some interesting questions that they wanted our

residents to answer


April Fool’s

April Fool’s was full of laughter and excitement, from pranking the

team members to pranking the residents. Activities Team prepared

tomatoes and grapes covered in chocolate; Bella received a bogus

employment notice and all heads of department welcomed her with

her masks of her face at the flash meeting.


Children’s Book Day

We reminisced old classics from our childhood. All our favourite stories that

we liked to hear or our residents used to tell their children and

grandchildren. We tested our knowledge around famous sayings from ’Little

Red Riding Hood’.


Amazing Volunteers

We miss our amazing volunteers a lot. Thank you for staying in touch and

sending gifts and letters. We love to hear what they are up to and it’s great

to know that they are anxious to come back and visit all their friends at


Grand National

The terrible pandemic affected every aspect of our life. We keep our spirits high

and do not let anything ruin the fun. Many of the fans were devasted with news of

Grand National being cancelled. Therefore we decided to create our own

Ridgeway Derby. Bets were placed, horses warmed up in our garden, ribbons were

awarded to the winners.


Share the Love

With the lockdown and limits put on non-essential visits we had to make

adjustments to our weekly routine. Our hairdresser couldn’t visit us on

Thursdays, so we used the amazing skills of other team members: Alex,

Andreea, Shelly and Anne—Marie made all of the residents look glamorous.


Garden Day

We couldn’t wait for nice weather to finally come. Our garden needed some

seasonal maintenance, which we gladly participated in. It’s great to see our

flower beds blossoming and our memorial weeping cherry blossom tree in

full bloom.


World Health Day

On World Health Day our residents took on the role of health visitors and

carried out routine health checks on all team members.


Arts & Crafts

We prepared a lot of lovely decorations for Easter. Ridgeway Rise

continues with Swindon Rainbow Hunt, so every week we display different

pictures in our windows. Look out for them when you pass Ridgeway Rise.


First Ice Cream of the Year

We really miss Franco and his ice–cream van. Good job Cosmin

and Jo make sure we have a sufficient supply of our summer’s

favourite treat.


Stay Safe

We were sent a good reminder of how to stay safe in these uncertain

times. Stay safe and smile everyone! Thank you Lilia!


Easter Piñatas

We decided to do something different for Easter this year. The residents

prepared homemade pinatas full of chocolate goodies.

It was so fun, we really anticipated the moment when we could smash them

and have all the sweets.


Team Members Easter Egg Hunt

Luckily we had amazing weather this Easter. It allowed us to take

the full advantage of the garden. Our team had a blast looking for

hidden eggs before they melted.


Residents’ Easter Egg Hunt


Charlie Chaplin

We learned many interesting facts about Charlie

Chaplin. Did you know that he didn’t win a Charlie

Chaplin’s Impersonators Contest. To celebrate his

life we talked about his movies and achievements.

We also prepared his signature look for a

vintage selfie session.


Virtual Travel

We cannot carry on with our regular outings, the mini bus is looking so

sad in our car park. We decided to do some virtual trips with head-

phones and a special app. The residents who not only hear under the

sea or forest noises but experienced 3600 views.


Surprise Party for Team Members

Our team members were treated to a surprise lunch in

appreciation for their hard work.


St George’s Day

For St George’s Day we made some bunting to decorate

Ridgeway Rise. Crafty residents made mosaic flags and dragons.

Others decorated biscuits and told stories of how they used to

mark the day.


Penguin Day

World Penguin Day is

celebrated on the 25th April

each year, as this is roughly

the date of this amazing

creatures annual, northward

migra t ion . We love

penguins and even more so,

we love a good fun!


I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles

We had so much fun recording a video of team and residents singing together.

All the updates and videos are available on our social media: Facebook,

Instagram and Twitter.


World Health Day exclusive interview with Rosemary

Lidia interviewed Rosemary to find out more about

being a Midwife.

L: What was your first job?

R: My first job was working for a gas company. I worked as a clerk.

I used to collect money and take them to the bank, recording

information's and updating paper file, answer the phone.

L: What did you want to do when you were at school?

R: It took me a while to make up my mind for what I would like to do. After the gas company I

went to a private Nursing School.

L: What made you want to become a Midwife?

R: Well, when I started to work at that very posh Nursing Home, I had lots of training and

gained different qualifications; they had a midwife in there and a surgical ward and my job was to

be a dogsbody. Then, a dogsbody was a little help for doctors, nurses, following them around

and assisting with little jobs. To answer to your question, in that Nursing Home they had lots of

babies and seeing the babies born was very fascinating. I was very happy that my mom knew

somebody at that place and I got this job, dogsbody and helping around the Midwife was very

fascinating. Years later I even hold the baby with the legs up waiting to give its first cry.

L: What qualifications were required back then?

R: I’ve went to school and I completed General Nursing course, because if you wanted to be a

midwife you had to be a practitioner nurse first. I had my exams and I received my registration

number.

L: What was a typical day at work like?

R: Midwives used to rotate around different departments in one during the day. They needed to

have the right set skills to offer medical help in case of an emergency. My qualifications needed

to be at very high standards. I used to work closely with doctors. I wrote care plans for those

women with health issues. We had to continuously review our qualifications.


World Health Day exclusive interview with Rosemary

Lidia interviewed Rosemary to find out more about being a midwife.

L: What was the best thing about your job?

R: Simple, pure satisfaction that you are there for new mums and can make them laugh in a

stressful situation. It was so nice to meet all those women, get to know them and delivering babies

was so satisfying, rewarding and special. No day was the same and meeting so many different

people from different cultures and walks of life was the best thing for me.

L: What advice do you have for people who want to be a midwife?

R: Patience is the number one attribute followed by empathy to others. It depends on the age of

the candidate. I think you have to be very young, you need lots of knowledge and experience to

prepare and first of all you need to volunteer to see what is about to be a midwife, cause is not only

delivering babies, it involves much more than that. It’s a real life challenge, be prepared to take lots

of information to your backpack.

L: What things do you wish you would know before starting your career?

R: I don’t have anything to complain about. My life went how it supposed to go. I am very happy

with the life I had, it started to mean something with my first job as a dogbody, because from there

life led me to midwifery, it was very nice and challenging at the same time.

L: Have you ever had a wish that you couldn't accomplish?

R: Well, not really, I was a trained nurse, after a while I became a midwife, I travelled to Canada

and New Zeeland and I would like to visit again those marvellous countries, but I think it’s too late

for that. So I would really enjoy to see babies again on the babies’ ward.


Hymns

We continue with Sunday services. It’s great to see more and more

residents joining in. We’re sure Revd. Sally would be proud of us.

We cannot wait for the Songs of Praise to return to Ridgeway Rise.


Hobbies, passion, friends, fun

Our Residents have lots of different hobbies and passions that they just

love sharing them with us. Travels, violin, Egypt, gardening—they are an

bottomless wells of knowledge in many fields.


Swindon Police, Domino’s Pizza

It’s amazing to feel appreciated and supported by the local

community.

Domino’s delivered delicious pizza for our lunch last month and

North Swindon Police came to express their gratitude for the key

workers during the weekly Clap For Carers event on Thursday at

8pm.


Happy Birthday

In April we celebrated birthdays of residents: Valerie, Audrey,

Cynthia, David and Marie. All the best!

In April we said our last goodbyes to :

Anne, Debbie, Eileen and Joan

Last Goodbyes

Congratulations to Andreea B. our

Employee of the Month in

April


May 2020

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1

Pipe Flowers

What’s in the

Bag

2

Artist

Impressions

Selfie Frames

3

Sunday Service

Design Your

Garden

4

Star Wars Day

Galaxy Jars

5

Cinco de Mayo

6

Arts & Crafts

7

Armchair

Travels

8

VE Day

9

International

Migratory Bird

Day

10

Chair Yoga

Virtual Seal life

Tour

11

Etiquette Day

Golf

12

Nursing Day

13

Pinwheels

Cocktails

14

Hearts Craft

15

Hats for

Headway

Quizzes

16

Vinegar

Splashes

17

Sunday Service

Basketball

18

International

Museum day

19

Chelsea Flower

Show

20

Sea Shells

Craft

21

Cultural

Diversity Day

22

Baking

23

World Turtle

Day

24

Cinema Day

25

Africa Day

Bongos

26

Paper Airplanes

27

Games

OOmph

28

Pampering Day

Singalong

29

Armchair Travel

30

Bottle Painting

31

Sunday Service

Exercises

Warm welcome to Ridgeway Rise’s new residents:

Lily, Harold, Deirdre, Myrtle, Glenna, David, Grace, Valerie

https://www.goldencarers.com/calendar/international-migratory-bird-day-activities/148/



ridgeway rise ridgeway herald · 2020-06-11 · ridgeway rise may 2020 children’s book day we...

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