Care homes' elderly are more active, thanks to Comic Relief money

Elderly residents at NorseCare care homes have become more physically active and are now singing the praises of Comic Relief after its £20,000 grant brought some ‘Oomph!’ into their lives.

On Friday. 15 March, Comic Relief’s TV sketch show raised over £63 million for good causes across the UK and abroad.

While some controversy surrounds whether or not Comic Relief’s TV show was actually funny this year, there’s no doubt that more than 150 residents from NorseCare’s care homes are having fun, after receiving a Comic Relief grant.

Care home provider NorseCare received a £20,000 grant from Comic Relief’s Health and Wellbeing for Stronger Communities Fund and is using the money to introduce the Oomph! project into its care homes in Norfolk.

Oomph! Wellness, a specialist activities and wellbeing provider has trained more than 200 care home staff to develop their skills and confidence to help them ensure residents are happy and engaged in activities they enjoy.

68 per cent rise in physical activity

Comic Relief’s grant led to a 68 per cent rise in residents’ physical activity, as well as an 85 per cent leap in their social interaction and a 40 per cent increase in the number of residents spending more time engaged with their local community.

Kate Grange, NorseCare's dementia care lead said: "We already had good activity plans in our homes, but this Comic Relief grant and Oomph's help has enabled us to develop some new and different ideas.

"We know that, especially for people living with dementia, music is a very powerful aid for us to use, so having the choirs in our homes is a really lovely way of supporting our residents as well as having a lot of fun together."

NorseCare’s activities include seated football, pottery, yoga, exercise classes and choir sessions.

Karen Knight, managing director at NorseCare said: “The grant we got from Comic Relief is absolutely brilliant at getting a lot of fabulous activities into our homes.

“We’ve used it for an Oomph project and its brought so much fun, laughter and joy. Not only to all our residents but all the staff joining in. Thank you very much to Comic Relief for being able to provide the money to let us do this.”