Fun with Facebook – Animal Visitors
From creepy crawlies to miniature ponies, lambs to birds of prey, we’ve had some pretty interesting animal visitors across many of our care homes. The pictures and stories go down a storm on our social media, showing residents’ happiness (and courage!), and it’s no wonder – the photos definitely stand out!
At Easter, many of our care homes take on the responsibility of hatching chicks. Residents light up with joy as soon as the first egg starts opening – which make for some cracking photos too. Derby Heights Care Home even have their very own chickens, who love to roam around the garden.
Bravery comes in all shapes and sizes – but handling a tarantula didn’t seem to faze a resident at Horse Fair Care Home. Visits from ZooLab always end up with residents taking a walk on the wild side, courageously holding all sorts of creatures including cockroaches, snakes, lizards and giant millipedes. Crispin Court Care Home even welcomed a visit from owls recently!
These photos nearly always cause you to do a double-take when scrolling through our Facebook pages, which proves how unusual and eye-catching they are online. These visits also offer a great opportunity for residents to learn too.
At the heart of our social media posts, engaging activities like these are precisely what we like to show off – the enormous smiles of our residents enjoying themselves! It doesn’t stop at small animals either. Lambs, llamas, miniature ponies and of course Pets as Therapy animals are frequent visitors, often seen walking through our hallways and lounges and bringing great joy. The benefits of these activities can’t be understated.
This issue’s top tip is to snap some selfies on the home’s iPad! This summer, we want our Facebook pages to be full of smiles from residents, staff and visitors. You could ask if a resident wants to take their ‘first-ever selfie’ with you, capture an image of you both enjoying the great outdoors on a trip out, or you could even see if your residents want to take the photos!
Article by Helen Bates, Marketing Executive, for Welcome Home Issue 10.
