Grisedale Croft

Grisedale Croft Residential home in Alston marked Dignity Action Day last Friday with a day dedicated to raising awareness about this important issue in care.

Supervisor Zerel Robson and support worker Heather Ridley who are dignity champions within Grisedale Croft kicked off the day by creating a display about dignity in care in the entrance hall of the care home. The thought provoking display highlighted the government’s ten point dignity challenge.

The first point in this challenge is zero tolerance of any form of abuse, and to promote this issue the dignity champions enlisted the help of local artist Paul Johnson to create their own Zero the Hero character, who will be used on cards to explain to the residents how they should always be treated with dignity.

The display also included information on how to become a dignity champion, Heather Ridley explained “ anybody can become a dignity champion whether they are members of the public or people who work in care and signing up as a dignity champion encourages you to implement the ten points of the dignity challenge,” and "I became a dignity champion because I think being treated with dignity makes you feel valued and whatever age a person is, or whatever state of health they are in, feeling valued makes life better for you.”

In the afternoon three members of Grisedale Croft’s volunteer team Sue Gilbertson, Julia Wilson and Heather Ridley promoted dignity by donating their time to improving the day of each of Grisedale Croft’s residents.

An interesting afternoon of reminiscing was enjoyed by many of the residents as a large collection of old fashioned items and a selection of Alston Newsletters from the 1980’s and 1990’s evoked lots of lively memories, including a cure for chilblains, “stick your feet in your own pee” sagely advised one resident. Other residents were treated to a chat and a relaxing hand massage from Julia Wilson.

This dedication to promoting dignity by improving the lives of the residents will continue in the coming months as the volunteers are compiling a wish list so that each resident can have an individual treat of their choosing, some of the residents wishes include seeing a sunset, going for afternoon tea and a trip to the shops.

A dignity tree was also created upon which residents, staff and visitors could display their thoughts about dignity in care by writing on red hearts, the symbol of dignity in care, and pinning them to the tree.

Heather said: "I think the word dignity has different meanings to people and is also a bit difficult to always explain so creating opportunities to get lots of people thinking and writing about it can only be good."

You can find out more about dignity in care and how to become a dignity champion at www.dignityincare.org.uk

Press Release by Samantha Ridley