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Abbey Healthcare staff inspired by residents to walk 20 miles in 31 degree heat to buy new therapy dolls

Staff at a Huntingdon care home say their residents were the inspiration in completing a 20-mile fundraising walk in 31 degrees to buy new therapy dolls.

Four staff from Abbey Healthcare’s Primrose Hill Care Home strode out in their walking boots on one of the hottest days of the year to raise money for two therapy dolls for their residents with dementia.

Complete with cribs, pushchairs, bottles, and nappies the baby boy and girl dolls are now being enjoyed by residents on the 16-bed dementia floor.

Danielle Keeble, Dementia Unit Manager at the newly refurbished home on Thames Road, said: “We’re always keen to bring new ideas and facilities into the home. It’s well documented that sensory activities and therapeutic treatments like dolls can help people with dementia, especially if they’ve been parents in the past. The ‘caring’ role empowers them and there’s comfort in finding those memories of caring for a baby, so we wanted to raise money and buy our own pair.”

But as the four strong team of colleagues began their walk from the care home to Cambridge in June, they hadn’t bargained on doing it on such a hot day.

Danielle said: “We had printed t-shirts and people were honking horns and cheering us on as we picked up ice packs on route. But the thought of the residents using the dolls in our newly created skylight area on the unit really motivated us.

“We’ve only had the dolls for just over a month and it’s been amazing to see the impact they’ve had. Three residents in particular go and visit the dolls every day. One walks a doll in the pram up and down the corridors to get it to sleep, another sits for hours rocking and snuggling one of the babies talking to it and smiling.

“We know many residents have had their own children, and grandchildren, so while many are non-verbal, we can clearly see the sense of calm the dolls give them. Any anxiety they might have seems to fade away.”

The dolls are the latest in a range of therapeutic treatments available to residents on the new smaller dementia unit that boasts sensory experiences known to support wellbeing including lava lamps and projections of colourful fish tanks.

Amanda Favell, Care Home Manager, added: “Many of our residents have dementia or cognitive loss of some sort so we do a lot of work around memories and reminiscence. It’s lovely to see the residents smile and kiss the dolls and really take comfort in them. Some think they’re babysitting their own grandchildren.

“It’s instinctive in so many of our residents to care and help the doll babies and I’m so proud of the team for wanting to take on the challenge and do this to further improve the care we offer.”

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