WATCH: Kruinpark combating the 2020 blues
For the residents and nurses of the Frail Care Centre at the Kruinpark Retirement Village, the weight of the lockdown was almost too much to handle.
The difficulties that have been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic go far beyond the physical. The emotional toll it has had on many people has seemed too much to bear at times.
For the residents and nurses of the Frail Care Centre at the Kruinpark Retirement Village, the weight of the lockdown was almost too much to handle. The dedicated nurses had already built close relationships with the residents, saying that they are less of a hospital and more of a home. During the lockdown, these relationships became even stronger because the nurses stayed at the centre during the week, so not to risk infecting any of the patients by travelling every day.
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“It was great because we became a lot closer to the residents, but it was also heartbreaking because we knew that if one of them needed to go to hospital, there was a large possibility that they would not be coming back,” said Lorraine Sandangwa, Head Sister at the Frail Care.
Nurses at the centre became extremely depressed as time passed and patients were lost to the coronavirus, and residents were not in much better spirits. Due to the lockdown regulations, the care centre could not condone any visitation and this led to the elderly residents of the frail care becoming miserable as they spent more and more time without their families.
As the lockdown regulations eased, Lorraine decided to take steps to ease the sadness that had been filling the air. Starting as just 15 minutes of exercise per day, the nurses began learning the steps to the dance that has taken over social media: the Jerusalema Challenge.
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The nurses who worked during the second shift were quick to jump on the bandwagon and even added some extra moves. The 15 minutes of dance time just before lunch or in any free time has lifted a huge weight off the nurses’ shoulders.
Most of the residents are not physically able to participate in the dances, but enjoy watching their caretakers laugh and dance; releasing all their stress. Oom Ben, one of the residents, is one of the only residents who has attempted the dance, and even went as far as trying to teach the nurses some new moves.
Seeing the positive effects of practising the Jerusalema dance, the Renal Care Centre and Dialysis Clinic at the home decided that they wanted to do more to lift the spirits of the people in the building. Anton Groeneveld, the General Manager at the Frail Care, and his cousin Delaine van Zyl, General Manager at the Renal Care Centre, went to their storage unit and brought back all of the furniture they could. With the help of a few staff members, a patient at Renal Care, and a lot of books, the Renal Care Centre has started work on a recreation centre and library on the premises to spread even more joy.
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The Kruin Park team hadn’t put much thought into challenging other Roodepoort old age homes as it was more of an extramural to lift their spirits, but they are open to the idea of spreading the joy and could challenge more homes in the future.
