Care home staff in Wrexham make “handwash dance” video

Senior care worker Laura gives insight into life on the frontline in a nursing home during Coronavirus crisis.

A senior care worker has given an insight into life inside a nursing home working round the clock to support some of the region’s most vulnerable people through the Coronavirus crisis – including a new handwashing dance video to the music of the hit song, Stayin’ Alive.

Laura Shone, a highly qualified Senior Care Practitioner at Highfield Nursing Home in Wrexham,

says she’s never been prouder of her team as they work tirelessly to keep their 59 elderly residents safe and happy during the pandemic.

The nursing home on Summerhill Road is part of the Pendine Park care organisation and was one of the first in Wales to ask relatives to stay away, to protect residents from exposure to the Covid-19 virus.

Laura described a rigorous daily routine introduced to maintain the highest hygiene standards introduced by company director Gill Hughes, who is the organisation’s official responsible individual.

The regime includes daily handwashing drills for all staff, social distancing for residents, screening of essential visitors, and sanitizer stations at every entrance.

The team are also working hard to keep up morale among staff, and residents who are not able to see their loved ones. They are making sure there are lots of creative, fun social activities to keep people occupied.

The staff have even made a video of a staff doing a ‘handwashing dance’ to the tune of the Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive, to boost spirits while reminding everyone of the serious hygiene message.

Laura, 28, from New Broughton, said her working day currently starts at 6.30am, so she can have a de-brief with the home’s team of night staff, as their finish their shift.

It means she has to leave behind her 19-month-old son Harri with husband Kieron at their home in New Broughton, an hour earlier than usual.

But she says it’s worth it to be able to personally check in with staff from both the day and night shifts who she mentors every day.

A key part of Laura’s role is strict screening of visitors, to maintain a protective cocoon around Highfield’s 59 residents, who are all over the age of 70 and most with underlying medical conditions putting them in the most vulnerable category.

She said: “We have made sure all of our staff have refreshed their infection control toolkit training, which we usually do annually.

“Every day I watch the staff wash their hands and we  go through the handwashing techniques.

“We do a glitterbug test so with a UV light we can see any bacteria on people’s hands after they’ve washed them, and the staff have to sign to say I have seen them wash their hands directly.

“I work with staff on all aspects of the hygiene procedures, making sure then are wearing the correct Personal Protective Equipment clothing, and changing them regularly.

“I go round making sure all the hand sanitizers are topped up. We have hand washing and sanitizing stations at every entrance and all of the staff also carry their own hand sanitizer at all times so they use that too and encourage the residents to.

“Before staff come on shift we all have to wash our hands outside before entering the building.

At times Laura’s work has brought her close to tears, she said: “I had to phone all the relatives to say please can they avoid coming because it was really hard some of them were crying.

“On the whole the relatives all really understand, as much as they know it’s hard that they can’t come to visit, they are supporting us.

“Almost every day people are dropping off supplies for their relatives at the door – things that they need like extra toiletries and clothes, and goodies they might enjoy – like crisps chocolate, family photographs, magazines books - anything to make them smile.

Laura and her team are all too aware that without relatives visiting, residents are missing out on the boost they get from seeing their loved ones, at a time when they may be feeling fearful.

They are working hard to try to keep routines as ‘normal’ as possible, with lots of creative activities such as such as drawing and doing puzzles, pampering sessions with a hair stylist and nail technicians.

They are also finding ways to make mealtimes more fun with a takeaway night and restaurant-style mealtime service with staff making the effort to ask residents if they would like salt and pepper, rather than simply placing it on tables.

“It is the little touches that can really make a difference,” said Laura.

“Everybody’s come up with creative ways to keep morale up. Some of the staff did a handwashing video to the tune of Stayin’ Alive.

“As things are so serious at the moment we wanted to make it fun to keep people’s spirits up. The staff enjoyed doing it and we have showed it to the residents too.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure they feel safe and reassured.”

Laura said she has been blown away by the fantastic spirit from all staff.

She said: “The staff are working so hard they have lots of extra jobs to do. Not one of them have moaned, they have all just got on with it.

“We are effectively creating a group quarantine, protective cocoon around our residents, and inside that we need to look after their physical health, and their mental health as well.

“At the forefront of everything we do is making sure they are getting that person centred contact and care, just making sure that the day-to-day chat is still going.”

“I honestly couldn’t be prouder of the team– we say be a Pendine kind of person, that’s our motto, and every single one of our staff is a Pendine kind of a person.

“There are some lovely moments – the place is full of laughter, and you can see already the bonds are strengthening between the carers and the residents as they are spending more time together.

“When we give the residents their meals we’re trying to give them a bit more of a dining experience. Instead of putting salt and pepper on the table , we are trying to make it fun and entertaining and like a restaurant service, going round asking people: ‘Would you like salt and pepper sir?’”

“We’re making sure people’s make up has been put on, they have their hair done, they’re wearing their favourite aftershave or perfume.

“It’s a real family atmosphere. That’s what Pendine Park represents, it’s part of our culture.

“We are here to do a job and so we have to stop worrying about what might happen and just make each day as good as it can be.”

“It helps that we have such a good management team at Highfield and across Pendine as a whole, they are keeping everyone informed with daily updates and that is helping the team and having a really good impact on the team.”

Director Gill Hughes said: “We have high levels of training and stringent infection control measures at the best of time but given the current circumstances we have gone into overdrive in that regard.

“Our staff have been absolutely brilliant, they have certainly come up trumps and are doing their utmost to support our residents at this most difficult of time. I am proud of each and every one of them.”