60’s day at Langham Court

The Summer of 23!

Music is such an important part of creating meaningful moments for those living with dementia and the 60’s is a favourite era for many of our residents in Langham Court.

So always game for dressing up, the team dug out their headbands and floral tops for a day filled with 60’s tunes and fun, bringing back lots of memories of days gone by.

Music vibes

We also used the day to introduce our new music walls, utilising some of the vinyl’s which were kindly donated following last month’s newsletter – Thank you!

A clever idea was to add a coloured buzzers to the walls by the records, which when pressed play a favourite track. They are already attracting a lot of plays, as people pass by and the occasional singalong!

60's day at Langham Court

More information about our approach to Dementia care and the Butterfly Approach  

How our care goes beyond just being Dementia friendly

Here at the Huntington & Langham Estate, we offer the very highest level of thoughtful and personalised care for people living with all types of Dementia

Our sterling reputation has been established over many years, and we’re now privileged to welcome people to our family who have been referred from the NHS and from other homes who can no longer support their specialist needs.

Amongst our residents, we care for people who have rare forms of dementia, as well as those whose symptoms have progressed and who are not able to stay in their existing residential homes without heavy medication.

What is dementia?

The word ‘dementia’ describes a group of symptoms caused by different diseases that damage the nerve cells in the brain. The symptoms worsen over time and can affect memory, problem-solving, language and behaviour.

As dementia is caused by different diseases, there are different types of dementia. The most common is Alzheimer’s disease, followed by Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy bodies and Frontotemporal dementia, sometimes called Pick’s disease.

Less well known are the seven rarer types of dementia, including PDA, PPA and FAD, all of which can occur at a younger age, can be wrongly diagnosed and can lead to issues accessing support from the usual existing health, social and voluntary services.

Between 5% and 15% of people living with dementia have been diagnosed with a rare, inherited or young- onset dementia.

We’re invested in learning more about dementia 

Recently, all our staff have undergone training by the Rare Dementia Support Society.

Dementia care training

We learned about all the rarer forms of dementia and how they affect people. This is vital as sometimes, when there’s a decline in cognition, we don’t know the type of dementia a person may have, especially if they can no longer have an MRI.

Now, with our staff’s insight, we can work backwards from behaviour and symptoms to diagnosis, meaning residents get the specialist care, understanding and flexibility they need.

Visit us, and you’ll quickly see that our informed and adaptable approach means we can be a home for anyone with any form of dementia.  For example, we’ve welcomed people of a young age living with YOAD dementia who have school-age families, so their needs are very different to those in their 70s+.

At our Estate, the care your loved one will receive is often beyond that found elsewhere.

We go beyond “dementia friendly”

The care we provide is very personalised, thoughtful and caring. We see how people behave and react and adapt our approach or environment to them rather than expecting them to conform to our rules.

We know that people living with rare dementia can present in different ways, and this means we can offer personalised care.  For example, one resident came to us with dementia and wanted to stay in his room over mealtimes. His dementia was not far progressed, and he was very independent, but he struggled with breakfast and lunchtime in this space.

Having learned about the symptoms associated with PCP dementia – a rare form of dementia where there’s a sensitivity to light – we gave him a pair of sunglasses, and he was happy to eat and socialise in the dining room.  He might have been labelled as “not sociable” in another home and left to eat in his room.

Personal Caring

We’re all part of a community 

At the Langham Estate, we’re part of a community. There’s no delineation between people living with us and working with us. There’s no Us and Them. We encourage residents to contribute to the life of the home however they can. Some like laying the table for a meal. Others like caring for our carers by, for example, brushing and styling their hair.

We know all our residents have value and want to feel in control. In our flexible and timetable-free environment, that means people can feel freer, and, in turn, this means that challenging behaviour is kept to a bare minimum.

Here’s a story which exemplifies our attitude to positive risk:

A resident with dementia who had previously escaped from two other care homes told us he wanted to find weak spots in our security at Langham Court and explore the surroundings. Instead of scolding him, we allowed him to act out his plans, safe in the knowledge that he couldn’t come to any harm on our large Estate.

Everyone finds their sense of purpose in different ways, and his was to find a way out – and we did not want to deprive him of this. It is a matter of balancing wellbeing and illbeing; a risk assessment of sorts, evaluating the likelihood and severity of potential outcomes of either allowing or disallowing a certain activity.

Over many weeks, he tried various escape plans, occasionally being allowed to succeed. We always found him and brought him back. Surprisingly, he was always happy to return in the knowledge that he had achieved with what he had set out to do.

 

Langham Court Terrace

How did we manage this? Well, to preserve his pride and independence, we discreetly hid a GPS tracker into his jacket and shoes. This allowed us to keep an eye on him without damaging his sense of self. By finding this balance between safety and his desire for adventure, we ensured his wellbeing while respecting his autonomy.

Our unique approach is beloved by residents and their families 

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be rewarding and draining. You might want them to move to a residential home but feel guilty about how this will impact them and you.

In these cases, we often recommend bringing your loved one for a respite stay – a short break for them and you. You can relax knowing they are lovingly supported by genuinely caring people. This can also make it easier for you and your loved one if there’s a move to full-time residential care in the future.

At the Huntington & Langham Estate, we provide luxury care across our two specialist care homes.

Family-owned and run, we offer dignified, compassionate and personalised care to our residents, giving them the nurturing support they need to continue living full, independent and meaningful lives.

We are Butterfly and Dragonfly accredited. To arrange a visit to the Estate and tour our homes and grounds, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.  

An Outstanding Specialist Dementia Care Home

Researching care homes can be difficult, as they can appear to be all much of a muchness.  However, all you need to know about life at Langham Court is this: we love our residents, they love us, and we’re all one big family here.

Visit us, and the affection is palpable.  It’s obvious in how we all chat together and how those living here talk with us.  It’s intrinsic to the day-to-day life of our Estate. And it’s in the very fabric of our being – from why we were founded and have grown, to how we have embedded a strong framework with love and personalised care at our core.

Let’s take it back to the beginning.

1978 – our story begins

Our story begins in 1978 when Marylin Hoare founded one of the country’s first nursing care homes.  At the time, she was a Surrey-based nurse – so passionate about offering high-quality nursing care that she decided to open a luxury but affordable 24-hour nursing care home.

But Marylin didn’t want the replicate the perfunctory care she saw in other places – she wanted love and relationships to be at the core of her home, just as they were in family homes around the country.

Marylin Hoare

Today, the Hoare family continue to run our Estate, which now has two care homes. Marilyn and her husband Geoff still live on the Estate, while their son Charlie is now the MD and ensures Marylin’s high standards of care are still lovingly provided.

Importantly, our way of working is now codified and enshrined in the Butterfly Approach.

What is the Butterfly Approach?

Developed by Meaningful Care Matters, the Butterfly approach is built around a person-centred care culture where people are ‘free to be me’.

There are very few specialist care homes where the approach is focused on meaningful care – a surprise if you consider that everyone’s experience of living with dementia is different.

With such a variety of experiences and specialist care needs, there shouldn’t be a one size fits all approach to dementia care. And that’s why we value emotional intelligence and domestic household living, honouring the core belief that every person living with dementia has a unique story which has meaning and that matters.

Butterfly Training Day

All of our team demonstrate these core values, and we invest in them to make sure they always provide the very best possible loving care. Because of this, we live and breathe the Butterfly care culture through our family-run home and family-style care.

We care for individuals, their personal needs and emotions, enabling our team to access the interior world of all our residents. But what does that look like in practice?

Daily life at Langham Court

Team members offer every resident the time and space to be themselves. We connect with everyone individually– getting to know them, their families and what gives them joy.

We understand what matters most to everyone on any one day, so all care is personalised in the moment.

Every hour of every day, we empower our residents to live as they did independently.  We bring their world into their daily life at Langham Court, stimulating them and building on their mental agility, encouraging them to continue pastimes or even take up new hobbies.

Meaningful moments

To do this well, our team are warm, caring and nurturing. They are also respectful, flexible and kind, enabling our residents to have a feeling of belonging and the ability to be spontaneous in the knowledge that their well-being and individuality are important to us.

What is unique about  Langham Court is our family-style dining which encourages conversation and a community feel. At the same time, individual doors to bedrooms mean privacy is there when residents need it.

Langham Court

We’re so happy with our recent extension, designed with specialist dementia living in mind, with three new day rooms with different views over the Estate and access to the enclosed outdoor patio area or sun terrace.

“Langham Court is set up as separate households that all share dining areas, offering small-scale living within self-contained communities. Residents within these households tend to gravitate towards the shared areas in the day in much the same way as you would at home, to dine together and spend time with one another, but in a way that avoids the mass dining experience of many other care homes.” – Charlie, our MD.

Wherever you are in Langham Court, you’ll see and feel the love.  If you’d like to learn more about our Estate and meet our fantastic team, please call us to arrange a tour of the grounds and homes.

For more information on what it means to be a Specialist Dementia Care Home and how to select one for your needs, please read this article.

At the Huntington & Langham Estate, we provide luxury care across our two specialist care homes.   Family-owned and run, we offer dignified, compassionate and personalised care to our residents, giving them the nurturing support they need to continue living full, independent and meaningful lives.  

To arrange a visit to the Estate and tour our homes and grounds, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.  

 

An Unparalleled Residential Care Experience

We are one big happy family (we even have competitive games nights!)

You’d be surprised how many people come to Huntington House for a short burst of respite care and request to return full-time afterwards.

That’s because though many of our residents experience the inevitable ailments which come with age, the buzz and activity in our home mean these ailments are a tiny part of an otherwise full and rich life.

However, back in their own home, former residents can feel unstimulated, bored and palpably alone, and these ailments loom large throughout an otherwise empty day.

No wonder they’re so happy to come back.

An unparalleled care experience

Take a walk through our house or grounds on any given day, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a typical family home.  Listen as you explore, and you’ll hear the friendly (and sometimes cutthroat) competition of group games and the excited chatter of another outing being planned.

Feast your eyes on the beautiful resident-made artwork adorning our walls. Feast your taste buds on our delicious food, served family-style and as tasty to eat as it is nourishing.

Meals at Huntington House

This colourful mosaic of care is possible as Huntington House is family owned and run.  The family feel of our house supports us as we do all we can to gently encourage each resident to live their life as an individual, with the independence, personal freedom and expression they enjoyed while living at home.

Residents build relationships with other residents and our staff, which does wonders for their mental health. We help residents to continue with hobbies they used to love and even to learn new ones, thanks to team members and other residents.

Taking part in hobbies

Our residents have a quality of life that just can’t be replicated in a home care or other care environment.

Yes, we have a beautiful house and splendid grounds, a large, well-trained and loving team and years of caring experience, but what really makes us stand out is our steadfast value of meaningful care – the key tenet of the Dragonfly Approach, which we faithfully follow.

The estate

The Power of Meaningful Care

In traditional care, the day is run along task lines, and care can be perfunctory.  Boxes are ticked off throughout the day – “make the bed”, “give them breakfast”, and “hand out medicine”.  There’s barely time to get to know residents and no time to think about them as people with hopes, dreams and desires.

However, at Huntington House, we understand that our relationships with people, places and things all influence who we are and how we feel.

Our life is made meaningful by relationships which meet our need for love, attachment, belonging and comfort.  These relationships make us feel secure, free and able – helping us to feel at home in ourselves, our bodies and our lives.  This is as true at age ten as it is at age 100+.

When there’s a lack of warm relationships, as can happen in other care environments and at home, it adversely affects mood, mental and physical health and quality of life.

As identified in a recent Age UK report on loneliness, physical and mental health difficulties are key drivers in loneliness and ‘can reduce older people’s ability to participate in community activities and inhibit their ability to maintain or establish meaningful relationships’.

Our residents know that at Huntington House, relationships are everything. We ensure that all residents are “free to be me” and able to create a rich, full, nourishing life.

Meaningful relationships

Believing wholeheartedly in the Dragonfly Approach means we value emotional intelligence, domestic living and respect, and we support every resident, caring about and for the whole person so they can write the next chapter of their story.

Our wonderful team magics this ethos to life. All over our house and grounds, and when we’re out on trips and outings, we bring colour, love and care to each resident’s daily life.  Huntington House is one truly big happy family – arguments about Monopoly and all!

Activities and outings

“She refers to them as ‘friends’, and that includes the staff as well as the people living in the home. It is this blurring which makes Huntington special. She is incredibly fond of them. I love that they will sometimes pop in and suggest going for a walk outside, which she loves. It feels very normal and relaxed rather than doing something to or for her. That’s beyond valuable to her.”  – Family member.

At the Huntington & Langham Estate, we provide luxury care across our two specialist care homes.   Family-owned and run, we offer dignified, compassionate and personalised care to our residents, giving them the nurturing support they need to continue living full, independent and meaningful lives. 

To arrange a visit to the Estate and tour our homes and grounds, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.  

Dementia Care with a Heart

Here at the Huntington and Langham Estate, we offer holistic care to all our residents. One very visible face of this care is our Homemakers.

Caring, patient, creative and kind, our Homemakers create strong relationships with our residents and contribute to the happy, friendly family environment we’re so proud of.

Homemaker

Our Homemakers are key to this environment, ensuring everyone who lives with us has the highest quality of care, retains their dignity and individuality and has the opportunity to participate as much as they want in the life of the home. One way this is played out is through our activities.

Now, many care homes offer extensive structured programming for residents. Every so often, everyone gets shepherded into a hall, whether they want to be or not, and there’s a musical guest or some other attraction.

At Langham Court, our Homemakers don’t rely on structured programming for large groups. We don’t want individual residents to be lost in the crowd – bored or overwhelmed with something they don’t want to do or forced to do something that their sensory loss, complex need or dementia renders meaningless or upsetting.

Instead, our Homemakers focus on creating many opportunities every day for residents to do, see and talk about, and residents are free to join. These activities can still be group activities, of course, but are more likely to be spontaneous, informal and one-to-one or smaller group activities. As our Homemakers know our residents so well, they can also design activities for each person, featuring elements of that person’s experience, skills, desires, interests or hobbies.

Petersfield Lake Outing

Throughout the week, Homemakers create and deliver individual and group activities to meet social, emotional, cultural, intellectual, vocational, physical, and spiritual needs. They also cultivate links with the community – bringing in outside individuals and organisations for entertainment and fun, as well as staging rooms and creating inviting setups for people to respond to.

All our residents are “free to be me” and receive personalised care focusing on them as individuals. We’re all about meaningful connections, unique stories and personal choice. Residents are in the driver’s seat, and our Homemakers carefully and skilfully create journeys for them to go on if they so desire.

 

Just last week, we had a visit from Cycling Without Age organised by one of our Homemakers. This fantastic volunteer-led charity brings Trishaw bikes to nursing and care homes, enabling residents to feel the wind in their hair as they are cycled around in comfort and style.

Rides Around The Estate

“The amazing work Cycling Without Age do is such a perfect fit for the Estate. The installation of the paths around our grounds were designed to enable people using wheelchairs to explore further afield. The fact the paths can be accessed on the Cycling Without Age e-bike provides people with even more freedom than we had imagined. They can go faster and feel the wind in their hair, and all without the stigma of a wheelchair.” – Charlie – MD

At Langham Court, every team member has our residents’ well-being central to their role. Whether you’re a nurse, work in maintenance or laundry, we make sure there are many opportunities for you to engage with our residents so they have stimulation, company and support. That’s why we have one member of every team, plus one representative family member, at our monthly Home Action Team meeting. During these meetings, we look at various elements of our care which could be even better and action them that month.

In April, we decided to think about people’s life stories, how we can share memories together, and the emotional impact this can have on everyone’s wellbeing; residents and staff alike.

Some of the ideas included creating themed boxes to stimulate conversation and reminiscence as well is sharing family photos and holiday snaps/postcards, which team members can have available in the pockets of their aprons. It may sound simple, but getting to know the people you look after has so many benefits. By knowing the name of the company they worked for, or where they spent their honeymoon, you can create a connection that helps them feel they are not alone and also form the trust needed for them to feel safe in your care.

Here at Langham Court, we’re a community: a family where we all know and care for each other. Multiple daily spontaneous interactions with each resident mean that everyone feels like they matter 24/7 and is part of everyday life – even if they’re not participating in formal activities. We know we offer superb resident-centred care, but we never rest on our laurels. Our Homemakers know they make a positive difference in other people’s lives daily and are always learning, growing and honing their skills.

If you’d like to learn more about being a Homemaker, please visit our website. If you’d like to find out more about our care home for a loved one who is living with Dementia, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.

At the Huntington & Langham Estate, we provide luxury care across our two specialist care homes. Family-owned and run, we offer dignified, compassionate and personalised care to our residents, giving them the nurturing support they need to continue living full, independent and meaningful lives. We are Butterfly and Dragonfly accredited.

To arrange a visit to the Estate and tour our homes and grounds, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.

Butterfly Training Session one

May has seen the start of our 2023 Butterfly project, with our new home action team joined by Sally Knocker from Meaningful Care Matters to deliver session one of the programme.

Butterfly Training Day

With a number of new members of the team if was a fantastic introduction to our approach to Dementia care at Langham Court and a brilliant refresher for the team.

Butterfly Training Session one

The focus of the day was centred around developing listening skills and enhancing our ability to engage with those living with Dementia and each other.

A third focus of the day was using dancing to create meaningful moment and fun to our interactions with each other.

I was inspired by the importance of  enabling the people who live here at Langham Court to have positive experiences, by creating a true and comfortable home environment by focusing on the emotional psychological and spiritual needs of each person, whilst caring for their physical needs.

Helen – Nurse at Langham Court  

Helen - Nurse at Langham Court

 

The Butterfly approach is intrinsic in the Dementia Care offered at Langham Court, making us stand out as one of the leading specialist dementia care homes.

For more information click here

Our ethos of personalised and loving care

When the family of one our ladies living in Huntington House, came to take her out for lunch last week, she wasn’t ready, and her family weren’t in the least bit surprised or upset.

That’s because she is a fan of having a boiled egg for her breakfast, and, having carefully taken the top off her egg, it wasn’t quite cooked to her liking, so she had requested another one which was a little runnier.  We obliged with pleasure, so she could savour the breakfast she wanted before getting up and dressed.

This story is just one example of how residents enjoy our personalised, loving, caring approach. Our ethos is that every one of our residents has a meaningful day, choosing what they do and when they do it based on how they feel. From the moment they wake up, our residents’ emotional health, care, dignity and desires are always at least as important as their physical needs.  This is the gold standard of personalised care we work to 24/7/365.

 Family care in a home from home

Huntington House is family owned and run, and residents are treated like family. Residents and our team are free to be themselves in the warm, welcoming, homely and friendly environment we’ve created over the years – a quintessentially English country house suffused with love.

At Huntington House, we always go above and beyond to meet residents’ needs, and they get the nurturing support needed to be independent and live a full life.   Residents can do all the things they enjoyed before moving in – walking, painting, singing, talking, debating, creating and more – and can participate in all the activities and socialising they want and need, with the reassurance of round-the-clock care.

Walk into the house, and you’ll see residents’ art on the walls and their interests and desires reflected in what’s happening at each given moment. Bedrooms are comfortable and welcoming but are just one of the areas where residents can spend time and enjoy themselves.

Window decorations

Residents and their families are encouraged to explore our 30 acres of beautiful grounds, help with our garden or wander through the woods to see the sheep, chickens and horses who share our space.  This is very popular with our younger visitors!

Less mobile residents are accompanied by a team member whenever they want to go outside, whether for a gentle walk or a chance to sit and get some fresh air.

The Huntington and Langham Estate taxi

All you need is love

Unusually for our industry, our staff are positively encouraged to connect with residents, love them and care for them as if they were family.

We have higher than average staffing ratios to facilitate the levels of care we provide. That’s why, much like visiting a family home, when you explore the house and grounds, you’ll hear impromptu debates and conversations, see residents going on outings, laughing and chatting as they do crafts and hobbies or suggesting to the care team how seasonal decorations should be arranged.  A contented hubbub fills the air, and that’s all down to our excellent team.

Our Home Makers and Carers are handpicked for their ability to effortlessly initiate stimulating activities and conversations. Every day, they take the time to create memorable moments for residents based on each person’s personality and needs.

Recently, a quiz question led to a conversation between a carer and a lady living in Huntington House, where they discussed the resident’s female partner and looked at photos together, with her beaming as she recalled a long-ago day out and had the time to reflect on her memories and talk about her love.

What shall we do today?

At Huntington House, no two people are the same, and no two days are the same. That’s why we say no to rotas, schedules and timetables and why informality, flexibility and spontaneity are so important to us all.

Visit or live with us, and you’ll never hear someone say, “I’m off to do 32”.  You or your loved one will remain a person, not a number, a human being deserving of dignity and respect who is positively encouraged to continue living a full and enjoyable life with our loving support.

“The home has been exemplary in its care for my father. On his recent death, the staff members seemed just as upset as I was! The management is caring and hands-on; its supervision instils a caring attitude, which is so much the ethos of Huntington House from every member of staff. We have seen the kindness and willingness to do anything they can. I would not hesitate to recommend Huntington House.” – Janet S

At the Huntington & Langham Estate, we provide luxury care across our two specialist care homes.   Family-owned and run, we offer dignified, compassionate and personalised care to our residents, giving them the nurturing support they need to continue living full, independent and meaningful lives.

We are Butterfly and Dragonfly accredited and both homes have a Care Quality commission Good rating.

To arrange a visit to the Estate and tour our homes and grounds, please call 01428 604 600 or complete this form.  

Love is in the care

The origins of Valentine’s Day

As with many traditions, there are several theories about the origin of Valentine’s Day. One version claims that Saint Valentine restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter and gave her a letter signed ‘Your Valentine’.

Valentine

Care with hope and love

The team at the Huntington & Langham Estate may not be able to restore people’s eyesight, but they regularly give similar gifts of independence, hope and love to people who need support in various aspects of their lives.

Giving people the freedom of feeling independent is a key part of the Butterfly approach to caring for people living with dementia in Langham Court where care works both ways. Care is not something that should be done to people, but rather an act of kindness that gives everyone a sense of purpose.

Crafting cards and arranging flowers to give as gifts is more than just a fun activity for Valentine’s Day, but an act of kindness that enables people living at Langham Court to care for others even when they need care themselves.

Hearts and craftsLove letters

 

How we beat the winter blues with crafts and baking

With the Christmas decorations taken down and Christmas cake all but crumbs in the tin, what better way to beat the winter blues than some craft making and baking.

Crafting and baking

Christopher had a great morning decorating some freshly made buns, whilst Graham and Sue wrapped up for a lovely walk around the estate in the warm winter sun.

Window decorations

Our colouful winter window display had the perfect backdrop of a snowy lawn outside of Huntington House, for residents using the lounge to enjoy a chat whilst continuing with their hobbies. Michael particularly enjoyed some colouring.

For more ideas to help relieve the winter blues take a look at our Art therapy activities ideas

A Musical Christmas

We have had a wonderful build up to the festive season with our resident musicians coming into Huntington House to entertain all our residents.

Tracey gave a great rendition of Rudolph the red nose reindeer which can been seen via this link – Christmas Music At Huntington House

Whilst Kevin took to the Piano in the restaurant and surrounded by all the wonderful decorations played Have a Merry Little Christmas, also available to watch here – Christmas Music At Huntington House2

Yuri our tenor completed the afternoon with festive carols, delighting the residents.

Music at Huntington House