Recognising the challenges laid out by the pandemic, Monday 2nd August sees B&M Care launch Steps To Reconnect – an initiative that aims to tentatively reconnect our family network of care homes and offset the “year like no other” with two simultaneous group-wide challenges.

Walk For Wellbeing

Running from Monday 2nd August to Friday 3rd September, B&M Care has set staff, residents, and their family and friends the task of collectively stepping towards a goal of completing 3,280 miles – that’s almost the distance between London and New York!

Steps and mileage can be completed individually or, in the case of our homes, as part of an organised event – and can be counted from a number of accessible activities including:

• Walking
  
• Jogging & Running
  
• Cycling
  
• Indoor or Outdoor Sports
  
• Dancing
  
• Chair-Based Exercises
  
• And even through exer-gaming, such as the Wii Fit
  

Using pedometers, smartphones and other wearable fitness devices, steps will be converted every Monday and be displayed here on our Walk For Wellbeing Mile-O-Meter Dashboard.

The goal of 3,280 miles was calculated based on the distance between each of our 26 care homes, including the group’s Head Office, and then multiplied by 10 to set the group a challenging ‘finish line’ goal.

Aside from the obvious health and social benefits that simply getting out-and-about brings, B&M Care is using the initiative to raise valuable funds for the UK’s leading dementia charity, Alzheimer’s Society.

Find our dedicated Just Giving donation page here.

Memory Capsule Relay

Running simultaneously to the Walk For Wellbeing Challenge is another group-wide initiative, titled the ‘Memory Capsule Relay’.

Officiated at Templemore Care Home in Northampton, B&M Care Chairman Bill Hughes presented the home with a trunk that will be transported from one home to another to collect a historic cache of pandemic-specific items and information. The relay will conclude week commencing Monday 30th August where Bill will then transfer all contents from the trunk into a time capsule which will then be buried at a Memorial Garden (more information below) situated in the grounds of Ashlyns Care Home.

With a simple aim of communicating the essence of living through a global pandemic to a future generation, items will include handwritten memoirs, newspaper cuttings, memorabilia, and PPE, such as face masks and a Covid-19 PCR Test.

Pictured (L-R): B&M Care Chairman Bill Hughes; Lifestyle Director Janet Kennett; Templemore Care Home Manager Teresa Warren

Memorial Garden