On 4th December, Cambridge was greeted with their first snowfall of the Christmas season, truly adding to the building festive spirit.
Some of the people living in the homes enjoyed looking out the window at it. They noted how pretty the garden looked under the blanket of snow and wished that they could go out and play in it for themselves, but knew it was too cold and slippery to do so. This gave some of the teams at the Cambridge-based homes an idea.
Emma, Care Manager at St Georges Court Care Home went outside to collect some of the snow and bring it inside for residents to enjoy. Their faces lit up when they saw it, and they were incredibly thankful to have a piece of the outside for themselves indoors.
Emma then went around the whole of St Georges so that everybody could have a feel of the snow. This brought back memories for so many people, and thus began discussions of old snow days and fun times.
Amy, the Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Fitzwilliam Care Home had the same idea, and thought that the snow would provide a great sensory and reminiscence session for the people living at Fitzwilliam. She brought the snow around and helped them recall their old snow days, sharing their wonderful life stories with the rest of their friends.
At Fitzwilliam, they took turns talking about how it felt melting in their warm hands. The child-like emotions came flooding in and a small snowball fight even took place! Everybody had a great, giggly time and hoped for more snow in the coming days.
When opportunities come out of the blue for sensory reminiscence, the teams at our homes do their best to make the most of them. This was a great example of that.