Care group launches #postcardsofkindness campaign to trigger memories in residents

A nursing and residential care home provider has launched a #postcardsofkindness campaign, asking holidaymakers across the UK and oversees to send postcards to their elderly residents.

On 13 July, Cedar Court Dementia Care Home, part of Your Health Ltd, posted the initial calls for postcards on Facebook. It has since been viewed over 40,000 times, with more than 500 shares and likes.

Louise Baker, Your Healthcare Ltd’s marketing assistant, said: “We want to inspire our residents to remember happy childhoods spent beside the sea, or times when they might have taken their own children on a foreign holiday or UK break, perhaps.”

She added: “Postcards have always been a huge part of the Great British summer holiday, and we thought it would be lovely if people could send our residents postcards to stimulate conversation, inspire memories and provide entertainment. Postcards are something familiar that our residents have no doubt sent themselves at some time, and they’re relatively easy and cheap to source from just about any location.

“We hope that our residents will feel connected to the wider community as they begin to receive cards from people they don’t know, but who have obviously cared enough to get in touch. Loneliness is so often felt by adults and the elderly, regardless of how many people they’re surrounded by. We hoped, in some small way, to tackle the issue of loneliness, too.”

Residents at Cedar Court Dementia Care Home in Burton-on-Trent have been inundated with postcards, including some sent from France, Cornwall, Blackpool and the Lake District.

“Postcards provide residents with a connection to the outside world and let them know that people are still thinking about them – that they remain an integral part of the community,” said Ms Baker. “The nostalgia and reminiscence aspect is obviously a huge one, particularly for those affected by the various stages of dementia.”

'It really has created a spark'

The hope is that every postcard will inspire happiness, and perhaps trigger memories that residents will want to talk about further – memories of happy family times, or certain sensations that will take them back to a particular moment in time.

“More than anything, we wanted our residents to experience the simple pleasure associated with receiving post – especially when it’s something as jovial as a postcard,” she added. “A postcard can be looked at, talked about and shared again and again, and we hope the residents will want to exercise their imaginations as they think about what different places might be like.”

According to Cedar Court Dementia Care Home's manager Maxine Fearnehough, the response from the public has been ‘phenomenal’. She said: “We have had an outpouring of support and positive comments from people that had otherwise never heard of the home – people as far away as Australia have asked if the residents would like to hear about their lives in another country.

“It really has created a spark and I hope that other people will be inspired to write to their own local care homes and hospitals, and that schools and youth groups might be encouraged to reach out to the elderly in their own communities.

“I think the idea of keeping in touch, enriching the lives of those in care homes, and maintaining strong intergenerational bonds is even more important – if we could inspire others to do the same then we would be over the moon.”

Your Healthcare Ltd has ten care homes taking part in the campaign which are: Cedar Court Dementia Care Home, Cedar Court Nursing Home, The Grange and Elm Court, Langwith Lodge Care Home, Leaholme Residential Home, Redmount Residential Home, Rider House Nursing Home, Summer Fields Care Home, Westwood House Residential Home and Willowdale Care Home.

To send your postcards please contact the homes following the link below:

click here for more details or to contact Your Health Ltd