Aged Care facility helps ease loneliness for residents in Lockdown with an innovative idea!
Pretoria, South Africa (25 May 2020) – The team at Fleurenville Aged Care Facility in Montana, Pretoria have found a way for their residents to experience a bit of socialising with an innovative idea – a ‘distanced’ restaurant experience!
Combating isolation and loneliness is one of the most important factors in caring for the elderly. This became a particular challenge for Fleurenville Aged Care Centre when the Coronavirus outbreak pushed the country into social distancing and then into complete lockdown.
“Our residents became separated from their friends living here with them and from the loved ones and family who could previously visit as often as they liked. Our team got together to come up with a solution that would help residents to socialise while still practising all the required Coronavirus protection measures,” explains Cobus Locke, Fleurenville CEO.
The solution? A restaurant-style table is set up every day for a special lunch!
A distanced table set up was arranged in a separate dining space and was laid for eight people, keeping a distance of 1.5 meters between them. Everyone is given their turn to join a group for lunch, and they are treated to a three-course meal served by “waiters” wearing PPE. The experienced of being out for lunch with friends was simulated as far as possible.
“This type of activity is more important for our residents than people realise,” says Locke.
“For residents’ mental and emotional wellbeing, they need to socialise and being kept apart from their families has naturally been hard on them. We created this experience to give them a chance to socialise in a setting that feels almost normal. We do our best to really treat them and to emulate an experience of eating out at a restaurant.”
Locke says that the response from the residents has been amazing.
“They have absolutely loved it, and everyone is very eager to get their turn. A lot of our residents are friends who speak every day, and in lockdown they really started to miss each other. We could see that this, along with the fact that they can’t have visits from family and friends, was having a physiological impact and we felt we had to do something. Now, are we are seeing smiling faces again!”
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