Staff and residents at a care home in Welwyn Garden City have been enjoying welcoming visitors to their home this week.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to open our doors again, families are as much a part of our home as our residents,” said Andrew Stoner, home manager at Oakview Lodge Care & Nursing Home.
“It’s been very emotional to see residents’ faces light up as they see family members after so long. We know how important it is for our residents to see loved ones and this is a real boost for everyone.”
There were many touching reunions at the homes as residents were able to see their loved ones for the first time in over four months.
One relative commented “We felt very lucky to be able to visit, thank you to all staff for looking after the residents and making everything safe for them during these last few months.”
Owners Country Court, who had already put comprehensive guidelines for families in place before the government guidelines were announced, are asking families to comply with stringent health and safety measures to keep people safe.
Each care home has put together comprehensive information for visitors to help them understand the new procedures and feel at ease when they visit.
All visitors will be required to wear a face masks for garden visits and full PPE for indoor visits, and every visitor is required to pass through a thermal imaging machine to check their temperature on arrival.
Operations director, Helen Richmond added; “All Country Court Care and Nursing Homes remain COVID-19 free at this time and all of the measures we have implemented for these visits are designed to keep it that way.
“This means that visits will be different from before, but we are sure that people will understand why. These visits have been able to happen because of the hard work of all our homes to keep residents safe and it has been amazing to see how much it means to everyone”.
On top of reporting no cases of COVID-19 at the care and nursing home, staff and residents also helped raise money for charity during lockdown.
Together they raised £1,160 for charity by completing 1042 mile static bike ride.
READ MORE: Staff go the extra mile to keep spirits high at Welwyn Garden City nursing home
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