The Postcard for Kindness scheme invites people from around the world to share postcards with people living in care homes. The aim is to offer traditional forms of communication to these people, encourage them to write and make some new friends in the process.
Excelcare homes across the group take part regularly and the residents are always excited when the post comes, as the cards could from anyone, anywhere in the world! Since signing up, residents have felt the positive benefits and really enjoyed hearing about other people’s lives.
The residents at Primrose Croft recently gathered to open the latest batch of postcards they received.
They were delighted to see one of the postcards had come from Elgin, a 6-year-old Labrador. His Owner wrote about his role as an assistance dog and what this involves.
His owner is a disabled lady who struggles with some day to day tasks, but Elgin uses his training to bring her items and help out around the house.
Some of the things Elgin assists her with is undressing, putting clothes in the washing machine and even knows what do if she starts to choke. She mentioned how he has saved her life many times and for this, was given a special award by the RSPCA and invited to meet the Queen.
The residents were amazed to hear about everything that Elgin could do and how he assists his owner. A photo of Elgin had also been included which helped to bring the stories in the postcard to life.
The residents are regularly visited by PAT dogs (Pets as Therapy) dogs, so reading the postcard brought back some memories and left them eager to write a response.
So they did and in their card, wrote about the house cat, Biscuit and included some pictures of him with the residents. They said that biscuit hasn’t met the queen, but they did receive a postcard from her which is proudly framed and on display.
After sending off the card, Ursula said, “Hearing other people’s lives puts things into perspective and we really must appreciate what we have more. I am sure with this virus it is definitely making people feel more appreciative of each other.”
Everyone at Primrose Croft is excited to see what they send back!