Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

At Ridgeway Rise Care Home in Swindon, we try to make life as rich and fulfilling for our residents as possible, and this means we frequently host activities and events within our home for residents and our local community of Blunsdon St Andrew.

Every time we celebrate an occasion or mark an important awareness day, we go all out and ensure to include the whole team. We have a fantastic activities team that is designated to plan and run activities day in and day out, but we also want to show that other departments can have fun and bond with the residents on something more than just tasks oscillating around activities of the day living.

This week, our whole home had wonderful fun for Halloween, organising a competition for the team for the best costume. Each and every one of our departments took part and at the end of our spooktacular party, the residents decided between themselves who deserved to take the first prize.

It was an incredibly inclusive event for those at Ridgeway Rise and a great bonding experience for all. We set up a red carpet and all team members worked on getting their votes throughout the day. They visited different floors, making sure to visit and talk to every resident, helping them to memorise and pick their favourite character.

The kitchen team and hairdressers made an extra effort to get votes by offering residents freshly baked cakes and extra massages during hair washes.

For our Halloween party, we started in the bistro with colourful lights, a photo booth, and Halloween-themed games. The highlight was obviously the catwalk, where our red carpet hosted many witches, cats, sorcerers, and ghosts.

Our great winner was Count Dracula, impersonated by our Maintenance Manager, Trevor. Even though everyone else went that extra mile to look great, according to our resident John, "he had no competition".  The second place was taken by our Unit Manager, Cristi, who dressed as a Policeman and Kinga in admin changed her look completely which saw her Men in Black character earn her third place. 

Some of our highlights from the event were the fantastic food prepared by our kitchen team, and our staff members who teamed up to compete in different challenges, including a spider soft baseball game, blowing bags of witches hats, and a lucky dip.

The event offered fun and engagement for residents, promoted independence and inclusion, and ensured residents that their opinion matters.

Our wonderfully dressed-up team members also visited the nursery and gave the children some gruesome jelly treats and scary rubber ducks. We try to ensure our activities and events are as intergenerational as possible as it strengthens our bonds in the community, and fosters connections with our residents that support their wellbeing.

As well as visiting the nursery, we knew to expect some trick-or-treaters, so our team built an outside display as part of the local Scarecrow Trail, resulting in lots of sweets being given to our visitors.

At Ridgeway Rise Care Home, we believe it is important to work as a team and enjoy special moments with one another and the residents. It's especially great for our residents to see the ununiformed side of our team and to see the strength in the team that cares for them, working great together and having fun with one another. By supporting our staff in this way, we can ensure the very best care is provided to our residents.