Community invited to ‘help to hug’ a Horndean care home

Home news

Nov 24, 2020

A care team in Horndean is asking people in the local community to help hug an entire care home.

Care UK’s Pear Tree Court, on Portsmouth Road, is participating in the ‘Hug a Care Home’ initiative, which involves making a chain of hand drawings that will be displayed around the outside of the home, and is asking local people to help complete the project.

The initiative, created by Creative Minds, a group which specialise in making art accessible to everyone, is designed to help spread positivity to care homes, and give the residents a way of connecting to the community during the pandemic.

Pamela Sykes, a resident at Pear Tree Court, commented: “The hands that the children at Horndean Infant School and The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School beautifully coloured for us are fabulous, they certainly make us feel ‘hugged’ and loved, and all at Pear Tree Court thank them very much.”

David Taylor, Home Manager at Pear Tree Court, said: “We have all loved receiving the hand drawings, it’s really brought the community together, and gives the residents a way of connecting with people safely.

“Our project is very nearly complete – but we do still need a few more hands! If you would like to get involved, draw around your hand, colour in one side and write a message to a loved one on the other. Then send it to the team at Pear Tree Court care home and the team will join them together to create a giant ‘hug’ around the care home.

“It’s great to see everyone, from residents’ families, to local nurseries and schools, sending their artwork to us. In particular I’d like to thank Horndean Infant School, whose pupils sent the home over 180 hands and Portsmouth Grammar Junior School who sent us over 40 hands for our project.

“We’d like to thank everyone who has already sent in a drawing, and we’re all looking forward to seeing the completed project.”

All post received at Pear Tree Court, including the hands, artwork and letters from the community, are disinfected using the home’s new fogging machine before it’s shared with residents.

Pear Tree Court is a state-of-the-art care home which provides full-time residential, nursing and dementia care, as well as short-term respite care.  Designed to enable residents to live enjoyable and fulfilling lives, the care home has its very own cinema and hair salon, and there is plenty of space both indoors and out, for relaxation and recreation.

If you would like to get involved with Pear Tree Court’s ‘Hug a Care Home’ project, please call Customer Relations Manager, Emily Forbes on 02392 986773, or email: emily.forbes@careuk.com

For more general information, please visit careuk.com/pear-tree-court