A host of pets and farm animals brought delight to Encore Care Home residents as part of celebrations for National Pet Day.
The Wellbeing teams at Encore Care Homes, which includes Great Oaks in Bournemouth, Oakdale in Poole, Fairmile Grange in Christchurch, and Hamble Heights in Fareham, welcomed in dogs, chickens, ducks, and guinea pigs for the national awareness day.
The special annual event aims to highlight the positive impact that pets can have on people’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Research shared by Pets for the Elderly explains that pets can increase a person’s fitness, lower their stress level, and bring happiness to the owner. It adds that physical health benefits for older people can include a decrease in blood pressure and cholesterol, decreased feelings of loneliness, and increased opportunities for socialisation.
At Great Oaks some of the care team brought in their dogs, Blue and Alfie, to greet the residents and bring a smile to their faces. Meanwhile at Fairmile Grange, Victoria Thompson, Wellbeing Assistant, brought in her dog, Freddie, to help deliver newspapers to residents and to bring some fur therapy. Over at Hamble Heights, they combined National Pet Day with National Farm Animals Day which saw a host of ducks, chickens and guinea pigs come into the care home to receive a fuss from the residents.
Erin Butcher, Wellbeing Manager at Great Oaks, said: “We notice each resident’s spirits lift as soon as the pets walk into the room and a huge smile appears across their face, so we were keen to celebrate National Pet Day.
She added: “The team loved being able to bring in their pets to visit the residents for the day. While receiving care, our residents often ask our team how their pets are getting on, so it’s nice to bring them together so that the residents can meet the pets. We even found a ball so that some of the residents on our dementia floor could play a game of catch with Alfie the border collie, which provided great entertainment.”
The Encore team provides care for residential, nursing, dementia and Alzheimer’s, palliative, and respite residents. This includes a dedicated Wellbeing team in each care home who are on hand to organise fun activities to support each resident’s physical, emotional, and holistic wellbeing.
