Having a birthday in lockdown is tough, and that’s no different for the people we support. Linda celebrated her 77th birthday recently, and after having a difficult year of shielding and missing her friends and family, our team at Vernon Close – our care home in East Sussex – decided to make it day that Linda wouldn’t forget.
Support worker Kirsty said: “We knew Linda had been going through a hard time. Like so many people, at the beginning of the first lockdown she had to shield for 12 weeks and she hasn’t seen her best friend, Sue, since March. We decided we wanted to cheer Linda up and make this birthday extra special.
“Another support worker, Dawn, and I came into work on her birthday as a surprise as we weren’t meant to be working, and we supported Linda for a drive to go and get some coffee and a cake. We went for a nice drive to the local park, and Linda had hot chocolate.
“We knew Linda’s best friend Sue lives in Eastbourne and their birthdays are very close together, so a few days later I supported Linda to see Sue, at a safe distance. Linda was over the moon to have seen her friend.
“Linda has been feeling quite down recently, so we wanted to do something special for her to cheer her up. It was a complete surprise for her, she was so happy and had a tear in her eye. It was so nice for us to be able to do this for her, and for her to have a little bit of normal life back. For us it isn’t just a job, we really want to be able to give the people we support the best lives possible.”
Sign up to our newsletter
