Plymouth House opens its grounds for covid safe celebration

Southern Healthcare’s Plymouth care home opened its grounds to entertain and inform residents and their families.

Parkwood House erected a luxury marquee in the home’s attractive gardens to hold several events, including a music concert featuring the Southern Healthcare Quintet, a pantomime, and an information session on the Eden Alternative.

Geoffrey Cox is the Managing Director of Southern Healthcare which owns Parkwood House along with three other award-winning homes in Devon. Speaking after the event, Geoffrey, who also plays drums in the Southern Healthcare Quintet, said: “This was a very worthwhile exercise and although it was a bit chilly, we had a good turn out and lots of positive engagement with the audience. It was a Covid-secure way of meeting our families again, which we have naturally missed so much over the past couple of years.”

The Eden Alternative was founded in 1991 in the USA by Dr Bill Thomas and Jude Meyer-Thomas. It is based on the core belief that ageing should be a continued stage of development and growth, rather than a period of decline. The philosophy was originally applied to nursing homes, but has since been adopted by all forms of residential and community care. Geoffrey is a member of the UK board of the Eden Alternative and delivers training to care providers across the country.

Parkwood House holds the Certificate of Registration from the Eden Alternative UK and Ireland, which recognises that the residents and the team at Parkwood House are well established on the Eden Alternative journey and have fulfilled the requirements for inclusion in the Eden Alternative philosophy, developing strategies to address potential problems of loneliness, helplessness and boredom.

At the Celebrating Excellence in Care Awards 2019, the Team at Parkwood House won the Commitment to Workforce development, Manager of the Year and Innovation in Technology awards.