We are trying to make our posts more accessible to all. A first step is to enable a ‘text to speech’ facility beneath each blog post! As we are not technowizards we appreciate your patience while we endeavour to get to grips with this. Us trying to do anything technical… …
Empowerment is achieved when your strengths, not your weaknesses, are magnified. At Apple House care homes we absolutely, categorically, emphatically, LOVE empowerment for all! Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to be empowered? To take control of your life and your choices, to feel valued and to know your self-worth. Empowerment can be achieved through so many ways in day to day life. Residing in a residential care home does not mean being stripped of empowerment. At Apple House, empowerment is apparent everywhere that you look. Our Fire Marshall is a resident. Our Health and Safety Officer…you guessed it. A resident. …
“Everyone should be able to access and understand information that affects their everyday lives, including the 10 million disabled people. Information that is easier to understand helps people to make better choices on issues such as education, employment and healthcare. It also helps people with learning disabilities to achieve a more equal role in society.” –– Depart. of Health, ‘Making written information easier to understand for people with learning disabilities, 2010. How are Apple House care homes helping those we support to understand the written information that pertains to them in order to help in their decision making and choices? …
Apple House care homes are proud supporters of local and national charities. We are delighted to support Alzheimers Research Uk. Receiving no government funding for their research, they are completely dependent on the generosity of supporters to fund their pioneering research programme. “Alzheimers is a disease that causes dementia. It is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for about two-thirds of cases in the elderly”–Alzheimers Research Uk. Typical early symptoms of Alzheimers include: Regularly forgetting recent events, names and faces. Becoming increasingly repetitive. Regularly misplacing items or putting them in odd places. Confusion about the time of day. Disorientation, …
Strategic Planning: Looking at Operational Goals. The Apple House Ltd Approach: The world of management and strategic planning can be full of jargon-based terms and phrases, which can take the core meaning away from readers who want to see the direction and aims a company wants to work towards. While it is crucial that our company has a clear strategic plan from directorship level, the methods which enable this plan to work through an operational route are key to achieving the common goal. This planning stage will assist the company forward through an ever-increasing demanding economy and climate. For our …
We are mad for bug houses! What are bug houses? Insects are so beneficial for our gardens, or at least some are! Lurking in the lupins and hiding in the hyacinths are a plethora of absolute pests such as aphids, mealybugs and other nasty leaf-chompers. We don’t like pesticides. We love our gardens and our vegetable patches. The natural solution is to attract the ‘right’ kind of bugs to battle pests and to ensure the eco-balance of our beautiful outdoor spaces. This is why the latest additions to our garden at Redcroft care home are Bug Houses! These little boxes …
This bleak winter will not last forever! As Spring edges ever closer, we look to our outdoor spaces and reflect on the many benefits they bring as well as the importance of making them accessible to all. There have been many studies that highlight the many benefits of accessible gardening. This means that a garden, and gardening, is designed in such a way as to not form barriers to those with a wish to garden or to touch and enjoy the many sensory delights that a garden can yield. Our homes each have large and varied gardens: Apple House has one hundred …
“You are not defined by a learning disability, you have many wonderful abilities! Let’s celebrate them!” –– Jane Montrose, Managing Director, Apple House Ltd Studies have shown that people with learning disabilities feel more accepted and valued in their communities than ever before. For many, transformation has come through friendships, through being more independent and from having a voice and from the termination of institutionalised lives where they were stripped of the essence of individuality. Small homes such as ours, located within residential communities, mean that those whom we support are living as part those communities. We foster an ethos of neighbourliness, …
The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care in England 2015/16 looks at the trends, highlights examples of good and outstanding care, and identifies factors that maintain high-quality care. It was written by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) through their findings between Spring 2015 and Summer 2016. The report summarises that most services they inspect give ‘good’ care to the people they support even though they may now been doing this with less money to pay for it. It also states that adult care services have been able to maintain quality but that there is concern over the sustainability …
CCTV Monitoring Systems Over the recent months we have been gathering information and consulting with our staff and residents regarding the use of CCTV in and around our services. The reason for this and our primary aim is to protect and safeguard the people who live, work and visit our services. We aim to install CCTV systems in all of our homes over the next 12 months. The system of recording is public and unconcealed, the cameras will be on display. There will not be any introduction of covert CCTV. As with any monitoring system that may be new and …
