Sensory Lounge at Penwortham Grange & Lodge

The fantastic staff at Penwortham Grange & Lodge have been hard at work, all to create a fantastic experience for their residents like no other.

Last summer, Orchard Care Homes set up its very own competition, ‘The Wow Factor’. Homes were given £500 to improve their front garden entrances and make them as welcoming and beautiful as they could. Penwortham Grange & Lodge blew everyone away with their fantastic transformation and won the grand prize of £5000!

Everybody at Penwortham Grange & Lodge knew immediately that they wanted to create a sensory lounge with the prize money, so every member of staff jumped into action to create something truly special.

The idea was to create a room that incorporated a variety of different colours and a mixture of materials and textures. This combined with soothing music would create a relaxing yet stimulating environment.

Staff scoured through numerous catalogues and websites to start putting ideas together and ordered everything that they would need. Packages soon began to arrive at the home and Karl stepped up to the plate and started building. Karl is the homes Maintenance Officer and worked tirelessly to help create the Sensory Lounge. Karl had soon set up the bubble tube, mirrors and fitted a projector which shows bright and colourful images on the wall.

The next step was to set up a huge corner sofa and put up two shelving units, all of this arrived early on a Monday morning, in a total of 18 boxes! Karl and other members of staff took a deep breath and set out to build all of the furniture. Even some of the residents helped where they could by unpacking and moving boxes.

“Building the sofa and shelving units took from the early morning to the late evening, but once everything was set up, the room was really beginning to take shape,” commented Karl.

At long last, it was time for the finishing touches. Windows were blacked out and a variety of colourful lamps and colour changing balls were placed around the room, to create a soothing atmosphere.

Last but not least, the home bought an Amazon Echo, which was placed in the corner of the room and is loaded with a selection of calm and soothing music.

Once everything was ready it was time for the grand unveiling!

“Residents absolutely love the sensory lounge and use it regularly. We have taken residents from various units within the home and have received brilliant feedback from everyone,” said Mellisa Thompson, Care Home Manager at Penwortham Grange & Lodge.

“One Lady sat back and nearly fell asleep! We have even had night staff tell us that some residents will get up during the night to spend time in the sensory lounge,” Mellisa added.

Everyone at Penwortham Grange & Lodge should be extremely proud of their efforts in creating this perfect experience for their residents.

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