"You are not in a typical care home"

Monday 13 January 2020

A cinema, a hairdressers and nail salon, a bar and a library all form part of £8m renovations aiming to bring a "vacation feeling" to a St. Helier care home aiming to be at the forefront of elderly care.

The first phase of St. Ewold's multi-million project is nearing its end and residents will soon have access to the new facilities, following the refurbishment of the building previously occupied by Avranches Nursery, which closed in 2017.

The project has also enabled the creation of 20 additional rooms on the site.

Pictured: All work at the care home should be completed by early 2021.

The next phase of the project should start around spring and will see the rooms in the main building renovated.

During the works, residents will move into the new rooms, one floor at a time. 

It is expected that all work should be completed in early 2021.

The refurbishment will not only enable the care home to create an additional 20 bedrooms, bringing the capacity to 86, but also a number of facilities for the enjoyment of residents. 

Pictured: 20 additional bedrooms have been created as part of the refurbishment.

A lounge area, a hairdresser’s salon, a library, a bar, a café and a cinema are among the facilities that have been created during the renovation of the basement.

The dining room will also get an extension as part of the renovation and training and changing facilities have been created for the staff. 

When building work is complete, the garden around the home will also be improved to encourage residents to get out in the fresh air.  

While keeping the home open as construction continues has been challenging for the staff, Home Manager Anand Tewari says he's pleased to see it's coming along nicely.

Pictured: The soon-to-be cinema room.

A qualified nurse, Mr Tewari was previously the Manager of Cheval Roc.

He joined St. Ewold’s and what he described as “its stable group of very experienced, very knowledgeable staff” in November, and says he is pleased to be transporting the home “into the future”. 

“We want to be at the forefront of care,” Mr Tewari said. “There is a lot of evidence and research done around elderly care and dementia care and we want to bring the best evidence-based care. We want to modernise the way care is provided and the culture of care.”

In that respect, Mr Tewari says he has been “very impressed” by the Parish of St. Helier and its philosophy of care. 

Pictured: The residents will also have access to a small bar.

“They could have squeezed out the space for more rooms. They could have increased the capacity, but they used the space for more facilities. It’s quite commendable.

“It shows the intention of the parish that the service we provide is heavily tilted to the benefit of the residents and the community. 

“We want to have a lovely place where people can come and enjoy the last years of their lives. We want to make the last years of their lives the best we can.” 

While some residents are aware of the surroundings they are in, others sometimes believe they are in a hotel or on holiday, which Mr Tewari says there is no reason to dispute.

Pictured: The dining room will be refurbished and extended.

The Home Manager says the refurbishment will enable St. Ewold’s to move away from a clinical “care home feeling” and give all residents the impression they are in a hotel.

“They will have access to an activities area, to the garden, we are doing a lot of landscape work, [and adding] a library,” Mr Tewari said.

“It’s important to be able to maintain that continuity of people’s lives as long as possible. We are in the toughest business, if I can say so. We look after people’s loved ones, which is never easy...

“We want them to have somewhere to enjoy nice meals and get pampered, so that they have this happy feeling of being on a vacation. There will be enough activities so that the days are filled with activities, entertainment and things going on. It’s all in keeping with the theme of ‘you are not in a typical care home’.”