New Visitor’s Room for The Hollies

Residents at a Hessle care home are being reunited with their loved ones for the first time in four months thanks to a newly created and dedicated visitors’ room.

The area at The Hollies on Ferriby Road has been designed to be a safe and comfortable area to allow its residents to have face-to-face contact with their families leading to heart-warming and emotional scenes as families re-unite.

Home Manager Deborah Moore said, “We understand how important face-to-face contact is, especially in these challenging times and we are very excited  to be able to facilitate our residents to properly see and speak to their loved-ones for the first time in months in a comfortable and private setting.”

Visitors who visit a loved one use a dedicated visitors’ door which keeps them apart from the rest of the care home. Once inside the room, which recreates a homely sitting room environment visitors and resident can engage freely while still maintaining social distancing.

Other precautions are in place to help enhance everybody’s safety. This includes a Visitors Policy and a rigid timetable to ensure there is enough to time to fully clean the area between visits. Hand cleanser and PPE are also available.

Ms Moore continued, “It is a delight to see the interactions and events which are now taking place in this room, which could not have occurred before.

“The schedule of visits is already packed and every day we are seeing incredibly emotional and heart-warning scenes of loved-ones being reunited in this safe setting.

“Previously people had only been able to see their loved-ones virtually – using smartphones and tablets – or through windows. These were important tools that certainly helped residents feeling isolated but nothing compares to seeing people in the flesh.”

The residents have been thrilled to be able to have visitors again with one commenting “Oh it’s been amazing to see my daughter again and to be able to have a good old chinwag!  We’ve tried to speak every day but neither of us are great with technology, although the staff helped tremendously. It’s been great to properly see each other!”

Ms Moore added, “Everyone is looking forward to the day when they can hug each other, but until then, we hope that our new Visitors Room will make life a bit easier for both our residents and their families.”