On Zoom and in the room: hope and joy at Jewish Care
L—ife has opened up gradually and many of us are feeling a positive effect on our sense of wellbeing. This is true, too, for residents in Jewish Care homes, whose wellbeing has been enhanced since they received both their vaccines and Government guidelines were reviewed in May. This has meant they could enjoy hand-holding visits with five designated relatives, with testing and PPE in place.
Care home residents can visit their family at home again and volunteers and wellbeing practitioners are slowly returning with in-person visits, enabling them to enhance everyday life in the homes.
“It feels wonderful to be going out with my son, Leon and daughter-in-law, Sharon, because I haven’t been able to for such a long time,” says Dinah Barnett, who lives at Jewish Care’s Anita Dorfman House at Sandringham, when she went to have tea with her family at home for the first in time in over a year.
“It’s fantastic to see the benefit of the visits in the wellbeing of our residents and their relatives as they enjoyed time with their families again,” says Jewish Care chief executive, Daniel CarmelBrown.
A silver lining of the pandemic has been the way technology has connected us all and Jewish Care residents are continuing to enjoy joining the Kabbalat Shabbat online gatherings with Jewish Care’s spiritual and cultural lead, Rabbi
Menachem Junik, on Friday afternoons. Their spiritual connection is also being boosted once again with Rabbi Junik’s in-person visits to care homes.
Sylvia Goodman, who lives at Jewish Care’s Anita Dorfman House, says, “For me, it is so important to be there at Kabbalat Shabbat every Friday. It’s good to be together with everyone online from other care homes and to hear Rabbi Junik. He comes in person to talk and to have a group discussion too. At the Zoom service I love the singing. I know all the words; we sing together and the music brings happiness to the soul.”
Volunteers are also delighted to be slowly returning to care homes, supporting Friday afternoon kiddush.
Volunteers are also back staffing the shops at The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre, where residents can buy gifts, cards and clothes.
Taking care of ourselves with a trip to the hairdresser is a great boost for us all — and care home residents are enjoying this too, now hairdressers are able to come into the homes.
Afternoon entertainment outside has begun again and is creating a buzz among the residents.
During the pandemic, participatory artists have continued to run stimulating activities virtually and they are now beginning to return to homes in person too, offering a new hybrid programme of online and in-person activities.
“It was great to see our creative writing facilitator back with us, running workshops at our two-day Wellbeing Festival in May, with residents of Sidney Corob House and Jack Gardner House for people with ongoing mental health needs,” says Sheree Charalampous, social activities coordinator. “The residents really enjoyed welcoming back our dance and movement therapist once again in person, too.”
The arts are an important way for us to connect with our senses and creativity, with each other and ourselves — and Jewish Care works with entertainers and musicians to make music accessible to as many residents as possible.
Specialist musicians have been working online with residents and carers, cocreating music in interactive sessions. Wigmore Hall’s Music for Life residency continues at Jewish Care’s Vi & John Rubens House, while musicians from the City of London Sinfonia, who have also been engaging residents on iPad sessions through the pandemic, hope to be back in person soon. They plan to make one-to-one room visits to residents over the summer at The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre.
As Charalampous explains, “The focus is on the holistic wellbeing of the residents, with our experienced participatory artists and specialist musicians, supporting residents to feel hope and joy — and to move forward with a positive mindset.”
It feels wonderful to be going out with my family’