Creature comforts for care home residents

Residents at a dementia care home welcomed some furry friends into their home over two days of animal encounters.

St Catherines View residents and staff are joined by children from Tops Day Nursery for the mobile farm visit

Lambs, goats, chickens and ducklings were among a number of animals taken to visit residents at Colten Care’s St Catherines View in Winchester.

To help residents recapture memories of time spent with pets and other animals, the home invited Mill Cottage mobile farm for an interactive visit, along with Millie the giant millipede, Vincent the Russian tortoise and Rory the rabbit from Creature Teachers.

Lisa Kiely from Creature Teachers said: “We find people often have stories to tell when they meet our animals. One man who hadn’t spoken very much for some time was fascinated by our tortoise and was prompted to say it reminded him of buying a tortoise for a girlfriend when he was a boy.

“Typically, the animal becomes something to focus on straight away, an icebreaker to prompt conversation.”

Children from St Swithun’s School and Tops Day Nursery were invited to join in with the animal antics, arranged by the home’s activities organisers Codey Hickman and Sophie Lambton.

Remi the American cornsnake and Vincent the Russian tortoise

Codey Hickman said: “The visits were a great chance for different generations to share a moment together. For those of our residents who had animal contact in the past, it was a really good way to stimulate memories.

“The smiles on the faces of the residents and children as they were introduced to the animals said it all and we look forward to many future visits.”