A FaceTime to celebrate: 100-year-old care home resident uses video calls to celebrate birthday
A Surrey care home resident was able to celebrate her 100th birthday with her family thanks to the wonders of modern technology, sharing her special day with her family via FaceTime; successfully bypassing coronavirus safety measures to receive birthday wishes directly from her loved ones.
Joan Blacker, who lives at Huntington & Langham Estate, a care home in Hindhead, Surrey, still managed to enjoy herself despite the restrictions, with calls from her family – themselves currently in lockdown – serving to bring her much needed cheer, with her grandchildren and great grandchildren wishing her well via FaceTime calls.
Mrs Blacker, who lived in Grayshott for 60 years before moving into Huntington & Langham, has an extensive family, including three sons, 12 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, which meant family were calling throughout the day, including a call from a great grandchild who lives in Switzerland.
Alongside her family’s well wishes, Mrs Blacker received dozens of cards, gifts and flowers with all of the home’s carers also signing a card for her – helping to ensure she felt suitably spoilt on such a landmark occasion.
Charlie Hoare, Director of the Huntington & Langham Estate, said: “On the one hand, it’s a great shame that Mrs Blacker happened to turn 100 during an unprecedented health crisis. However, thanks to technology, all was by no means lost! Using FaceTime, we were able to connect Mrs Blacker with her family throughout the day, helping her to feel suitably special despite the current restrictions in place.”
He continued: “Mrs Blacker was thrilled with the experience and so were we. It’s not every day you celebrate a birthday via FaceTime, let alone a hundredth birthday! With people across the world currently undertaking social distancing, it was wonderful to be able to spread a little happiness, especially given it was such a milestone occasion.”
The Huntington & Langham Estate is a combination of two specialist family-run care homes offering high-quality residential, nursing and dementia care, which are housed within 30-acres of garden and woodland. As part of coronavirus precautions, relatives’ visits are restricted – including from grandchildren and great grandchildren – meaning interaction with the outside world for residents is greatly reduced.
Despite this the home, and the staff who work there, are doing what they can to keep residents connected, with a recent request for children to send in creative artwork to raise residents’ spirits seeing dozens of pieces sent to the home.
Charlie concluded: “Our residents are holding up immensely well given the circumstances, with our staff doing a tremendous job to help ensure this. Alongside staff efforts, we’re also seeing heart-warming and generous gestures from the wider community, which is really helping residents to continue to feel a part of things. Every cloud has a silver lining so they say, and the ongoing sense of community spirit is certainly an example of that!”
