The COVID-19 Recovery and Rehabilitation project was kindly funded by The Rayne Foundation to help care homes share with each other what they are doing to help individuals living, dying, visiting and working in care homes for older people to move on from COVID-19. This story relates to the Embed phase to Being appreciative. Being appreciative is a positive and motivating approach to developing practice and enhancing participation. It pays attention to the best in us, not the worst; to our strengths, not our weaknesses; to possibility thinking, not problem thinking.

If you have a story to share, please email us on mhlcharity@outlook.com.

As one care home shared …

Another initiative which we introduced during the restrictions and have continued, is the idea of mourning with relatives. During the height of the pandemic, we sadly lost some residents, and it just felt like closure was difficult for some relatives. This was especially the case when there had not been proper goodbyes. If you think about it, pre-lockdown, they could visit their loved ones as often as they wanted. Suddenly, the lockdown deprived them of this experience. Very painfully in some cases, there was no opportunity to say goodbye or have a ceremony to celebrate the life of their loved ones with others. Now we have a special box of memories which we share with families when a loved one passes on.

What have you put in place to make good ideas happen more of the time?