Jean Smith, 90, believes moving into the newly launched 66 bed Sandbach care home, Elworth Grange, has given her a new lease of life.
In recent years Jean has needed a little more help to do the things she enjoys and eventually decided to look into care options. She said, ‘I decided to move into Elworth Grange on a temporary basis at first to see how I liked it. It turns out that I love everything about the home; the staff, activities and delicious food, so I have made the decision to become a permanent resident. I couldn’t be happier and I feel like I have my freedom back!’.
Jean was born and raised in Crewe and is the eldest of 6 children. She attended local primary school, West Street Infants, where she met her best friend Muriel on her first day and the pair remained close friends throughout their lives.
Following her school years Jean worked as a sales assistant at a local grocery shop, working her way up to management in just a few short years. Jean believes she would have happily stayed in her supermarket role if it had not been for close friend Mrs Stubbs, who encouraged Jean to follow her dream of running her very own sweet shop. Jean took the leap and opened ‘The Grotto’ sweet shop on Welles Street. The store became a huge success for over 40 years and remains one of Jean’s greatest accomplishments.
Jean moved to Elworth Grange on the 1st of July and has since celebrated her milestone 90th birthday. Home Manager Donna and her team ensured the day was incredibly special and pulled out all the stops including live entertainment from a local singer in the gardens, a buffet style afternoon tea and socially distanced outdoor visits with her family. Jean said, ‘I had a wonderful birthday, it was a brilliant day and I was so pleased to see all of my family and receive such lovely cards, flowers and presents – everybody spoilt me!’.
The team have created a tailor made activities schedule that incorporates all of Jeans favourite hobbies and interests. Alongside the garden visits where Jean can catch up with her loved ones in a safe manner, the team have arranged musical afternoons in the cinema room, pamper days including manicures and hairdressing in the onsite beauty parlour and even flower arranging in the botanical rooms.
Jean said, ‘I am really looking forward to meeting people and creating new friendships as more residents move into Elworth Grange. I am hoping to see some familiar faces that know me from my time at the sweet shop too- that would be lovely!’.
‘Despite moving into care at such an uncertain time, the staff and the procedures in place to keep me safe have been meticulous and I cannot fault them. If anybody else is looking into care, I would say try it out for yourself and follow your gut instincts. I know I couldn’t find a team better than Elworth and I feel very settled here’.
Activities Co-ordinator, Frankie Durrant, said, ‘When Jean moved in, we sat together and chatted about all of her likes and dislikes and completed our ‘This is Me’ booklet, a unique initiative created by Ideal Carehomes to ensure the daily running of our home and activities programmes are person-centred and enjoyable for everyone – so far we have had a blast and I am looking forward to planning many more special events for our residents’.
Home Manager, Donna Cowell, said, ‘Jean is an incredibly special lady and it was extremely important to everybody at Elworth Grange that she settled into our home comfortably and felt very welcome. It has been our pleasure to organise her 90th birthday and it was a heart-warming moment to see her reunited with her family during a socially distanced garden visit to mark the event. I am looking forward to many more memories our team and residents make at Elworth Grange!’.
Elworth Grange, operated by Ideal Carehomes, is a residential care home boasting a hair salon, cinema room, Sky bar and spacious lounges overlooking landscaped sensory gardens. Ideal Carehomes provides staff with industry leading training, coupled with the latest care plan technology to ensure residents feel safe, relaxed and fulfilled as they move into the next chapter of their life.
Residents at Elworth Grange, on Booth Lane in Sandbach, can enjoy a full programme of health, leisure and wellbeing activities managed by a dedicated team of carers. For more information, contact Donna on 01270 439 950 or live chat on the Ideal Carehomes website https://www.idealcarehomes.co.uk/our-homes/elworth-grange/https://www.facebook.com/elworthgrangecarehome/.