• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

North East Connected

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HenPower project does wonders for Akari Care residents

Please Credit Picture:Keith Taylor

A pioneering charitable project has further benefited the lives of residents throughout care homes operated by Akari Care.

The company, which operates 39 care homes throughout the UK, including 26 in the North East, has collaborated with HenPower, a project managed by registered charity, Equal Arts, which aims to provide creative opportunities for older people.

Residents at a number of the company’s homes on Tyneside and in Stockton have benefited from the project, which has supported their interaction and encouraged communication through housing hens on the homes’ grounds.

Funded through the BIG Lottery Fund Silver Dreams programme, volunteers from HenPower, which is based in Gateshead, regularly visit the homes, originally to set up the hen keeping and suggest stimulating activities to incorporate the new additions, with residents and staff now managing the hens independently.

Akari Care’s participating homes include Newcastle-based Ashfield Court and Comfort House and Gateshead’s Philips Court and St Mark’s Court, as well as Piper Court, in Stockton.

Lynn Fearn, deputy CEO at Akari Care, said: “The HenPower initiative has worked wonders at our participating homes in the North East, with excellent feedback coming from residents and staff. The project has helped rekindle some old memories for residents and given them a little bit more independence and responsibility.

“As a company, we are always keen to implement further enjoyable activities and schemes into our care homes, and the collaboration with HenPower is something that has been very educational and worthwhile. We are looking at rolling out this initiative, or similar ones, to further Akari Care homes, so they, like our homes in the North East, can reap in the rewards too.”

By admin