Animals and children brighten up life in a Luton care home

Residents at St Mary’s Bupa Care Home in Luton were recently joined by local schoolchildren for an animal therapy session with tortoises, rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas.

The afternoon was organised by activity co-ordinators, Jackie Crawley and Sandra Hart-Mcintosh, and finance administrator, Margaret Jeffery, who contacted Tennyson Road Primary School in Luton and Ark Farm for a joint animal therapy session.

Ark Farm, in Bedford, cares for more than 200 animals, including owls, cows, rabbits to donkeys. During the session, residents and pupils all had the opportunity to interact with the animals, while the Ark Farm team provided them with fun facts about their special guests.

John, a resident at St Mary’s Bupa Care Home said: “I had a lovely afternoon with the children and animals from Ark Farm, my favourite had to be feeding carrots to the guinea pigs and rabbits. Stroking the animals was very therapeutic! I hope they visit again soon.”

Margaret Jeffery said: “It was wonderful to welcome both the children from Tennyson Road Primary and Ark Farm. We decided to invite both Ark Farm and the children to our wellbeing session as it really brings our residents together with the local community. It is well known that animals have a very calming effect on older generations, and this was visible with our residents who were keen to cuddle the animals.”

Ms Evans, teacher at Tennyson Road Primary, said: “We were very excited to receive an invite from St Mary’s to visit to meet the animals. Our students had a wonderful afternoon with the residents, too. One pupil spoke about how she thoroughly enjoyed taking to a resident about their past memories of owning a dog. We hope to attend more events with St Mary’s soon.”

After the visit’s success, St Mary’s are looking forward to welcoming the school children from Tennyson Road Primary and Ark Farm for more sessions over the coming months.

St Mary’s Bupa Care Home is situated in Luton and welcomes residents in need of nursing or residential care including those living with Huntington’s and Parkinsons. For further information visit www.bupa.co.uk/care-services