Tag: Cramond Residence

War evacuee shares the colourful secret of her long, full life

Dorothy’s lockdown-inspired arts project proves a surprise hit

A 92-year-old World War Two evacuee who refuses to let crippling arthritis halt her passion for creativity has enjoyed a hit with her latest project – making colourful bead bowls.

Now Dorothy McDermott has paid tribute to the staff at Cramond Residence, who have helped her create dozens of the bowls, as orders have flooded in from family, friends, residents and staff.

The arts-loving pensioner, who trained as a silversmith, was inspired during lockdown to experiment with colourful Hama Beads, which were originally created for children, but have proved a global hit with many adults as well.

Dorothy says that creative projects have helped her enjoy a happy and fulfilled life and also provided her with a vital distraction during lockdown – and is delighted with the reaction to her latest works.

She added: “People have been putting in requests for specific styles and colours – I’ve made over 20 in just one month. I’m thrilled to bits that people like them.

“But I couldn’t have done it without the help from staff as my fingers don’t work the way they used to. I have to pick up the Hama Beads with a safety pin due to my arthritis and have to get one member of staff to help separate the brown and black beads due to my double vision.”

Widowed Dorothy has had a lifelong passion for art and told how her creative streak even helped sustain her as a child during the darkest days of World War Two.

She said: “Art has always been a passion of mine, I used to get my dad to make a hole in silver sixpences and thruppennies so I could get a wire or thread through to make necklaces.

“When I was evacuated from Edinburgh to the home of my auntie and uncle in Perthshire at the beginning of World War Two, I used to gather hazelnuts to paint and make brooches from, to keep everyone’s spirits high and bring a little bit of happiness during a difficult time.

“I’ve always made things, right through school I was painting and making jewellery. I went on to study silversmithing at Edinburgh Art College. It’s fun to see how the creations turn out and makes me feel good to see the way people have appreciated them over the years.

“I like to keep my collections unique, as I feel that makes them special – it means I can offer ‘one of a kinds’ which people quite like, especially the jewellery as no one will ever have the same.”

Dorothy’s passion for the arts sees her taking classes with other residents at Cramond Residence, Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home. This month she will lead a course on how to Tie-dye silk scarves, as well as teaching other residents how to get creative with the colourful beads.

Lisa Sohn, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Cramond Residence said: “The drive and energy that Mrs McDermott has for the creative arts is truly inspiring – proving that age is just a number when it comes to something you are passionate about.

“Dorothy is a very sociable resident, so when her friends caught wind of her new adventure making bead bowls, many were quick to put their order in. Now even the staff are getting in on the action – from storing keys at the front door to a place for jewellery – everyone has been coming up with new uses for them.

“Dorothy is always busy crafting and making things, which she often gives to people as gifts. We look forward to seeing her wonderful creations every time, as no creation is ever the same.”

The popular mother-of-one, who has lived her entire life in Edinburgh, retired 30 years ago but continued to make jewellery, design clothes and to express herself through painting.  

As her arthritis worsened, she moved into Cramond Residence, where places start from £1850-per-week. For the past seven months the dedicated care staff have been helping her continue to unleash her creativity.

Dorothy added: “Making things keeps my mind active, I’ve started becoming a bit forgetful so this gives me something to focus on and I really enjoy it. I’d say I spend several hours every week creating new designs whether it is for a new bead bowl or a painting.”

Cramond Residence is a purpose-build, £12.5m care home which opened in October 2018 and can care for up to 74 older people. It includes specialised, self-contained houses for residents living with advanced stage cognitive impairments caused by conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities. It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times. As well as the beautiful gardens, it also offers a library, a hair salon, a private, fine-dining space, a physiotherapy room and a cinema.

Cramond Residence provides a combination of luxury accommodation and the highest quality of care. Set in a leafy location, it offers small group-living in nine houses, with all residents enjoying a wide range of amenities and activities, excellent food and bespoke care.

To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/

Walk to victory plan for pensioners deprived of exercise

Alzheimer’s Month sees get-fit challenge issued at Cramond Residence

Lisa Sohn is one of the lifestyle coordinators at Edinburgh’s most exclusive care homes, Cramond Residence.

PENSIONERS deprived of proper exercise during the lockdown are now being coaxed back into action at Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home – by the lure of raising cash to battle dementia.

Canny staff at Cramond Residence in Edinburgh have set a challenge for residents, giving them the month to get in the best possible shape for a major fundraising push.

Care and clinical workers hope the attraction of doing their bit for Alzheimer’s Month will also help the residents shake off the potentially debilitating effects of five months in lockdown.

Lisa Sohn (above), Lifestyle Coordinator at the purpose-built, 74-room care home, pointed out that extensive research has shown how older people are adversely affected by periods of inactivity, suffering accelerated muscle loss.

Lisa said: “It’s a vicious circle. The more inactive an older person it is, the harder it becomes to get them back into a good place. We’ve done everything we can to keep our residents active here, but we’re hoping this new challenge will really make a difference.

“We are lucky to have beautiful gardens at Cramond Residence so we’ve come up with a plan to mark Alzheimer’s Month throughout September, encouraging our residents to walk as often as possible.

“We’re going to build up to a big fundraising day on September 30. That will see our residents doing as many laps of the garden as possible, while asking their family and friends to make a pledge to Alzheimer Scotland.

“Everyone here has a vested interest in this. Not only is it a great way to keep our people in tip-top condition, but we all know residents who have Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. This lets us all do our bit to fight this terrible condition.”

Reopening of Cramond Residence’s beautiful garden has been the main impetus for the challenge. However, it has also been partly inspired by the story of former British Army Captain Tom Moore.

His garden walks during lockdown and in the run up to his 100th birthday turned him into a national celebrity. He also raised more than £32m for the NHS – and earned a knighthood as a result.

Lisa added: “All of our residents followed the story of Captain Tom during lockdown, so we’re hoping that will also help inspire them.

“Happily, most of them are champing at the bit to get back out walking outside and the garden walks will be one of our major focuses throughout September.”

Cramond Residence is a purpose-built care home created at a cost of £12.5m and opened in October 2018. It combines luxury, five-star accommodation with outstanding clinical standards. Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities – with places available from £1850 per week.

It can care for up to 74 older people, with specialised self-contained houses for those residents living with an advanced stage of cognitive impairment induced by conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times and promotes a small-group living philosophy. That means groups of eight rooms form distinct “houses”, where residents are encouraged to eat and socialise together. This is believed to have played a major role in successful infection control during the Coronavirus pandemic to date.

Places in the care home start from £1850 a week. To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/

Cramond Residence scores high with Care Inspectors

DELIGHTED staff at Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home are celebrating being scored highly by care regulators, just 18 months after it was created.

Purpose-built Cramond Residence only opened in October 2018 and was subjected to an unannounced, three-day check by Care Inspectorate experts in March. 

Now the national watchdog has published its report, awarding the home four 5s and a 4 for its performance to date – where 5 is “very good” and 4 is “good”. The highest available score of 6 is considered “excellent”.

Eileen Gray – General Manager at Cramond Residence

Eileen Gray, General Manager at Cramond Residence, said: “These results are great news for our residents and for their friends and family. What comes through repeatedly in the 10-page report is that this is a home where the residents are extremely safe.

“It’s also hugely gratifying that when the Inspectors sought the views of 13 residents and four relatives, the feedback was universally positive. Everyone told them how much they love it here.

“Of course, we aspire to score across-the-board 5s and 6s. In fact, that is the target we set ourselves to achieve after three years of operation.  However, building a team from scratch in the care sector is a huge challenge.

“For us to have scored so highly after just 18 months is a real testament to the entire team. I’m very proud of them and what they have achieved here in such a short space of time.”

Ms Gray, a highly experienced nurse who has worked in the care sector for over 30-years, said she and the rest of the team would now be taking on the Inspectorate’s advice on “areas for improvement” from the report and would be drawing up detailed action plans to implement.

She added: “We will never be complacent. No matter how good a care home is, the inspectors will always find room for improvement. Our team know that we must constantly be developing and improving.”

Cramond Residence can care for up to 74 older people and has a specialist dementia unit to care for those with an advanced stage of dementia. Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities. It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times. 

Spread across three floors, it also adopts a small-group living philosophy. That means groups of eight rooms form distinct “houses”, where residents are encouraged to eat and socialise together. This is believed to have played a major role in infection control during the Coronavirus pandemic to date.

Ratings for the residence included a 5 for supporting people’s wellbeing and the report praised the organised events, intergenerational work with local schools, and the ability for residents to move about freely, building rich friendships and relationships.

It said: “We saw that care staff, administrators, ancillary and management teams knew people who lived there, which meant people felt secure and confident with staff who cared for them.”

The residence also scored a 5 for its leadership, noting: “We saw that the management team were settling in well and working well together. People who lived in the service and their relatives were confident that the service was well managed.”

Another 5 was awarded for the residences’ staffing, with the report stating: “It is important that people who use this service have confidence in the staff who care and support them. We saw the level of training, support and supervision most staff received. This showed that they were competent, skilled, and were able to reflect this in their practice, whilst keeping people safe.”

Likewise, the residence was scored a 5 for its purpose-built setting, which includes a cinema, gym, garden lounge, library, hairdressing salon, activity rooms, a physiotherapy room and even a private, fine-dining area for residents to use with friends and relatives.

Inspectors graded the residence a 4 for how well care and support is planned. While acknowledging Cramond Residence’s pioneering and easy-to-access electronic system for individual care plans, it suggested those plans should have a greater focus on measuring outcomes for residents.

However, the report went on: “We found that people who were supported by different organisations worked well together by sharing information, examples of these include physiotherapists, pharmacists, podiatrists and GP’s, which was appropriate, confidential, and respectful. 

“This meant that people who used this service could be confident that they received responsive care and support.”

Cramond Residence provides a combination of luxury accommodation and the highest quality of care. Set in a leafy location, it offers small group-living in nine houses, with all residents enjoying a wide range of amenities and activities, delicious food and bespoke care. 

Places in the care home start from £1850 a week. To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/

Care home puts art and soul into recreating Fringe for residents

FUN-loving pensioners who were missing out after the world’s biggest arts festival was cancelled have been treated to a bespoke day of events instead.

Cramond Residence, Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home, hosted a Festival-Fringe-style celebration for its residents since the annual arts event was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The day-long ‘Cramond Fringe’ saw residents and staff enjoy a celebration of arts and entertainment, while abiding by social distancing rules. It included performances by magicians, jugglers, poets and singers.

Lisa Sohn, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Cramond Residence, said: “This offered something different for our residents and it was wonderful way to bring everyone together safely.

“While nothing can make up for Edinburgh losing the Festival-Fringe this year because of the pandemic, we still had a brilliant day of entertainment and performances here. The residents absolutely loved it.”

Cramond Residence is a purpose-built care home created at a cost of £8m and opened in October 2018. It combines luxury, five-star accommodation with outstanding clinical standards – with places available from £1850 per week.

The Cramond Fringe event was held in the residence’s dedicated cinema room – a sizeable, multi-purpose space which enabled strict social distancing. The residence also includes a library, hair salon, private, fine-dining space and a physiotherapy room.

Lisa added: “The fringe celebrations started with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the morning, followed by refreshments over a presentation on the history of the Festival and a Fringe trivia quiz for those more competitive residents.

“After lunch we started our afternoon of entertainment which included juggling, magic shows, skits, jokes, and a sing-song.  We tried to create the feeling of a variety of acts by switching the chairs around and creating different ‘stages’.

“Speaking with the residents after the event, they told us they’d loved it a really good time and would love for it to happen again – maybe we will need to make the Cramond Fringe an annual celebration due to popular demand.”

Cramond Residence can care for up to 74 older people and has a specialist dementia unit to care for those with an advanced stage of dementia. Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities. It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times.

Spread across three floors, it also adopts a small-group living philosophy. That means groups of eight rooms form distinct “houses”, where residents are encouraged to eat and socialise together. This is believed to have played a major role in infection control during the Coronavirus pandemic to date.

Places start from £1850 a week.

To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/

In-house Gym and Physiotherapy at Edinburgh’s Newest Care Home

Edinburgh’s newest and most luxurious care home is to have a state-of-the-art gym and give its residents access to unrivalled health and fitness support, including innovative fall prevention classes. Due to open this summer, Cramond Residence has announced an exclusive physiotherapy partnership with Balanced Edinburgh, which specialises in functional rehabilitation and fall prevention to help older people become more independent. Continue reading In-house Gym and Physiotherapy at Edinburgh’s Newest Care Home