Easter at Mansfield Care Homes

Easter weekend at Mansfield Care Homes was unusual for residents and staff because of coronavirus, but it was still an important time for reflection and renewal of faith. The lockdown meant church visitors couldn’t visit the care homes as usual at Easter, but they still found other inventive ways to connect with residents.

Liz from the Holy Trinity Church in Melrose designed a beautiful Easter Service booklet with Palm Sunday readings, reflections and prayers to help maintain a spiritual connection with the residents at St John’s Care Home. As Wellbeing Coordinator Denise explains, many of the St John’s residents prefer individual activities. “So I made an Easter Fun Activities booklet with activities such as mazes, join the dots, word search, colouring in, puzzles, and an Easter quiz.  This meant they could enjoy some Easter activities in their rooms, if they wanted. Some residents also spent time in the garden and enjoyed painted stones in beautiful colours.”

St John’s residents have also been doing Easter crafts with Aquapaint, says Denise. “During lockdown, I’ve had to be creative and think of ways to relieve the boredom of our residents, and keep their minds stimulated.  Aquapaint is a unique product developed especially for seniors and aged care. The user paints with a wet brush onto the canvas and watches as the colours magically appear, revealing beautiful works of art. It gives the residents a great sense of achievement, and when the paint dries, the canvas returns to blank and can be used over and over again.”

At Belleville Lodge in Edinburgh, Matron Margaret says some of the residents enjoyed a craft session making Easter cards which were sent on to their relatives. “We decorated the home with Easter decorations, and Beth, one of our residents, enjoyed putting eggs onto the Easter tree. On Good Friday, everyone enjoyed hot cross buns and discovering interesting facts about Easter and Good Friday.”

On Easter Sunday, Matron also took a short service to celebrate Easter. “We decided to do this, as we are not allowing the minister to come into the home,” she explains. “Everyone joined in a few prayers and sang a few Easter hymns,  all the while observing social distancing, of course. In the afternoon, we enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt in the garden, as the weather was glorious. We also enjoyed a visit from the Easter Bunny, who gave each of the residents an Easter egg.”

Many thanks to Mansfield Care staff for the lovely photos.