CREATING A COMMUNITY

Def. according to Webster:  “a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society”

In other words, a group of people who understand one another’s emotions, anxieties, pain, loss of a loved one, more than once, the confusion and many more things that people outside the community do not understand.

For us at Resthill Memory Care, it is important that our families communicate, that they share common feelings, stories, their experiences and knowledge.  Through sharing and being a community, they know they are not alone.  For this reason, we endeavour to engage our families at least twice a year in enjoying a family day at Resthill. 

The family day on May 17^th, 2025, was no different.  We sent out the invitation, and the RSVPs came in slowly, but suddenly, just before the deadline, we realised we were going to have more than 70 family members. 

Planning was up and running.  The kitchen, the first-time that the new kitchen would accommodate so many dishes for so many people, was in commotion.  Soup for starters, pap & gravy, potato bake. Salad. 

Fires for everyone had to be planned.  Wood and charcoal, fire-lighters and braai grids.  Braai tools.  Everything had to be enough to make things easy and quick. 

Plates and cutlery for our residents and staff had to be unpacked.  Table linen is freshly washed and ironed so that Simiso and her team can make the tables beautiful.  Tables were brought out from everywhere so that each family could have a semi-private table to have their meal with their loved ones.  Where there were not enough trees, umbrellas were set up by our garden staff under the watchful eye of Gift, who also saw to the fires. 

Everyone was busy seeing to it that this family day was going to be better than any before.  Even the weather was behaving marvellously, and we had a glorious day ahead of us.

The band (yes, we have live music) arrived and started setting up to set the mood of the day.

Our lovely kitchen staff started carrying out the food to the beautifully set tables for the occasion.  They are smartly dressed in their “chefs” uniforms and are ready for anything coming their way.  Christina set the pace, and they worked like a machine.

And then the families started coming in, carrying their cooler boxes and picnic baskets, finding the ideal spot and then collecting their loved ones to sit with them.  Our Team Leaders and other Caregivers had the residents all ready and dressed up for the occasion. 

Now, I always say that music has nothing to do with memory.  It is in our DNA, in our bones and nervous systems.  The moment the band started playing, our residents started to react to the music.  Tapping away with their feet, keeping time with their hands on the tables.  Some of them even took a family member for a spin on the lawn and danced a few steps.  They enjoy the music.

The children enjoyed Alet’s big glass bowl full of marshmallows and other bright coloured sweets.  The great pot of Italian tomato soup was ready, and people enjoyed that with the parmesan cheese and ciabatta bread with butter.  Some even ate the bread with the delicious jams cooked at Resthill.

Time to braai.  It was boerewors, sausages, chicken, chops and steaks.  Once again, Gift was the man of the hour and assisted everyone to have a piece of meat on their plate.  The kitchen staff was ready with the side dishes, and the families loved the potato bake.  Everybody was in a cheerful mood, and the families talked amongst each other, shared their stories, and in general just chilled in the lovely gardens of Resthill Memory Care.