Teddington care home resident, Audrey Hall, was taken back 75 years with a surprise visit from Caesar the pony, as part of an innovative care programme for residents.

Audrey, 80, who lives at Homemead Care Home on Park Road, has had a lifelong love of horses having grown up with them around her as a young girl in Barnes.

She regularly visited the local Park Lane stables when she lived nearby but advancing arthritis in her knee meant Audrey could no longer make the journey.

So when she moved into Homemead last year, manager Theresa Rivera decided to bring one of the ponies, called Caesar, to her as part of the home’s ‘resident of the day’ programme.

“Being ‘resident of the day’ means your day is tailored to you,” said Theresa.  “We take time to understand what people love, how they like to spend their time, and once a month residents have the opportunity to have a day that’s special to them.

“We know how much horses mean to Audrey, and how frustrated she was at not being able to visit them anymore, so we came up with a solution.”

Homemead specialises in dementia care for up to 26 residents.  It offers respite care and is one of eight care homes in London managed by C&C.

‘Resident of the Day’ is also an opportunity for staff to review the care people are given and make sure their needs and preferences are being met. 

Theresa said, “Audrey’s room is covered in horse memorabilia.  Seeing Caesar opened up something within her, it brought out memories and feelings we don’t usually see from her which is wonderful.”

Active reminiscence has been found to have a positive effect on people in residential care.  Studies have shown that exploring older people’s past and present lives with them can help care home staff get a better understanding of their needs and aspirations and can have a positive impact on feelings of depression.

Daisy Cinque from  Park Lane Stables accompanied Caesar on his visit and saw the effect he had on Audrey and other residents at Homemead.

“It was wonderful to see how much joy Audrey got from Caesar being there,” she said.  “The smell and the feel of the horse obviously took her back to being a young girl, and what were clearly very happy memories.

“Caesar is a therapy pony so he’s used to visiting people in our community.  He’s very calm and he can be very soothing for people with dementia.” 

Audrey spent half an hour stroking Caesar and feeding him carrots before he headed back to the stables, through the front door at Homemead.

“It was such a lovely surprise to see Caesar, I nearly cried!” she said.  “He reminds me of all the horses I used to ride when I was a young girl.  I cannot forget this day.”

Article supplied by Lisa Pettifer