Podcast: Care home's efforts include hair-modelling and much-needed lockdown laughs

Care staff have taken on new roles during lockdown to make residents laugh with hair-modelling by a male care worker, baton-twirling from the care home manager and a new penpal scheme which has given 91-year-old Doreen Empson a new admirer.

Care worker Jack Johnson, 91-year-old Doreen Empson and Danielle Bullent the manager at Laurel Lodge care home, as guests on carehome.co.uk’s ‘Let’s Talk about Care’ podcast describe what life’s like for the care home in lockdown.

Laurel Lodge in Norwich, run by Black Swan Care Group, has been virus-free during the COVID-19 pandemic and staff have been busy coming up with ideas about how to make residents laugh out loud in lockdown.

Like care homes across the country, Laurel Lodge, which has 26 residents, is in lockdown but staff are determined to do everything they can to make residents smile.

Care worker Jack Johnson, aged 22, has taken his hair modelling role seriously, explaining how it all began when he offered to “jump in the chair” to get his hair in rollers for resident Joyce who was unsure how a new hairdo would look.

She may have been unsure because since lockdown, care staff were taking the place of the care home's usual hairdresser.

Once Mr Johnson's hair was coiffed into big shiny curls, he says of the experience: “We basically looked like we were related.

"It gave everyone such a laugh. We really needed it.”

When he’s not working at the care home, Jack Johnson plays in a local Norwich band called Painted Heathers. With no entertainers able to visit the home, Mr Johnson, who writes his own music, performs his own songs as well as an eclectic mix of well-known tunes for the care home’s residents.

Mr Johnson was only too happy to perform a line from his original song ‘Everything’s To Be Known’ on the ‘Let’s Talk About Care’ podcast.

He first joined the care home as a cleaner maintaining infection control measures. Having worked in retail jobs while studying at university he says: “You get a satisfaction from the job role that you don’t in retail.

“You get the satisfaction at the end of the day that you’ve made a difference in people’s lives. You can learn about yourself through other people. It gives you a bit more perspective”.

Doreen's care home pin up

Doreen Empson aged 91 years-old has much to say about life in lockdown at her care home. This includes staff’s efforts to launch a penpal scheme for carehomes, which has brought her a love letter from an admirer.

Having received a photograph and a letter from a male resident from another care home, nonagenarian Doreen admits she thought he was so handsome “I put it up on my wall”.

The penpal scheme involves care homes across the country and has led to letters being received with photographs and a covering letter from the corresponding care home.

The lockdown activity is the brainchild of care home manager Danielle Bullent, who says it is: “really lovely" to hear not only from the residents but also other care home staff.

Danielle Bullent has, alongside other members of her team, taken turns to give residents weekly blow-dries and new hairstyles in the on-site salon, since the care home’s usual hairdresser can no longer visit the home.

Danielle Bullent said: “It’s so much fun we have lots of laughs when the music’s going.”

The care home manager has even been twirling a baton in the care home’s garden to perform skills she learned as a child when she was a majorette.

'Massive smiles on their faces'

On the subject of working in the care sector, Jack Johnson has this advice for anyone, especially other men, when it comes to care.

“If it’s not something they have considered then why not? If they’re not satisfied with the job they’re in. If you think it might not be for you then you can always challenge that in your own head".

Mr Johnson's sister also works at the care home and he says: “I wouldn’t have necessarily thought that it would have been for me…but it definitely is”.

As well as ensuring residents and staff are protected from COVID-19, the care home has been busy making sure residents get daily virtual calls from their families and friends.

Doreen says her daughter often comes to the care home to stand outside her room window, where they both smile and wave and place their hands on the glass.

Black Swan International runs 20 care homes across England. Danielle Bullent says: “Staff still come to work with massive smiles on their faces ensuring everybody else is happy”.

She says staff are going about their daily life “putting themselves at risk”. “We’re okay but still that risk is there.”

Doreen sums up life at Laurel Lodge during lockdown with the words: “I personally think the staff are absolutely wonderful. I do really and I mean that. I always have a laugh with the people.”

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