Fife Care home thanks community for entertaining residents

Staff and locals are keeping the residents’ spirits up, with many missing loved ones who are unable to visit during the lockdown.

Links View care home, in Burntisland, is finding new ways to make people smile, whether they’re inside or just passing by.

Sheena Barnham, a care worker at the Cromwell Road home, said: “We’re keeping in touch with families with Facetime and postcards, calls.

“Some of our residents have dementia, and some find it quite strange to see their families on a tablet or phone and can get quite emotional about it.

“Staff are going above and beyond, making sure that the residents don’t miss families too much.

“We have a conservatory, where we’ve put up our handprints with messages on.

“It’s all about keeping everyone’s spirits up.

“It’s like one big family all in one room. They’re doing really well.”

Sheena said that an appeal on the Burntisland Facebook page, for passing locals to let residents know they’re thinking about them has also had a strong response.

“People are walking past and waving to residents, and we’ve got people coming to sing for them in the car park.

“Children have written letters in and just to say ‘keep up your spirits’.

“We want to say a big thank you to everyone for being so caring, because these are tough times.

“Everyone in Burntisland has been so good, we had one little girl going past who came up to the car park with her dog and all the residents were waving and blowing kisses. It was really nice to see.”