Newsletter January 2014
Happy New Year and welcome to our first newsletter of 2014. It’s fair to say our feet haven’t touched the ground since we completed the move to our lovely new building in September and the year ahead promises to be just as exciting!
Hazeldene House launch party
November saw a momentous end to over two years of construction work and we were delighted to move in to the final phase of Hazeldene House and wave goodbye to the builders!
Once our residents had settled into their new surroundings we were able to host a house warming party for the new Hazeldene House and proudly show it off to relatives and the local community. Amongst our guests we welcomed some of the staff who had worked here when it was the Old Priory and even some who had been here in the days when it was Lord Berry’s private house.
Our kitchen staff excelled themselves, creating a delicious cake which was a replica of our new home. It seemed a shame to cut into such a work of art but our proprietor Ernie Graham is not one to shy away from a tough task!
Age UK day centre now in full swing
Tonbridge Age UK has now increased its day care service for clients with dementia to five days a week, operating from self contained premises within Hazeldene House with meals provided by our own staff. Staff at Age UK have remarked on how much they enjoy running their activities within our safe and secure environment, using our beautifully landscaped grounds whenever weather permits.
At Hazeldene House we are looking for further opportunities to extend the services we can offer the local community so please email me if you would like to discuss this.
Keeping in touch with Resilink
With our RESILINK service relatives and friends of our residents can view online care plans as well as daily reports written by our care staff. Some relatives are using this service every day to keep in touch with the day to day life of their loved one.
Please have your say!
From Amazon to Trip Advisor, online customer reviews and positive recommendations are now a vital decision making tool for people buying goods or services and social care is no exception. We really value the independently verified feedback and reviews from relatives and care professionals. These reviews are fed into relevant websites such as NHS Choices which help families make important decisions on the care of their loved ones. It’s very easy to leave a review or a comment on the Disc Directory service that we use so I urge you to have a go!
Coming soon – the Graham Care Awards
We are currently developing our own awards scheme to recognise the achievements of staff working in all our departments. We are planning to gather testimonials from residents, their relatives and friends as well as care professionals, and aiming to have a celebration event towards the end of the year. Look out for updates on our website and forthcoming newsletters.