ACTIVITY CO-ORDINATOR AT LOCAL CARE HOME IS COMMUNITY CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

Mary Fox, activity co-ordinator at Bupa’s Highgate Care Home in Glasgow has been awarded the title of ‘Community Champion of the Year’. Bupa’s Community Champion Awards recognise the efforts of employees and dedication to fundraising, volunteering and engaging with their communities. This year’s overall winner, Mary Fox, was awarded this impressive accolade after being instrumental in developing Highgate Care Home’s links with the local community. Mary has led her colleagues to deliver five ‘Activ-eat’ sessions at the home’s local primary school, teaching the importance of healthy eating to over 150 children. She also went back to the home on her own initiative, to teach the children about the importance of hand sanitation. Using a lightbox, she showed the children the germs on their hands to demonstrate how important it is for them to wash them thoroughly and regularly. Mary also created a resource room for residents in Bupa’s Highgate, teaching them how to use the internet and how to contact family and friends, in a bid to enable them to feel more connected to the community. Mary Fox, activity co-ordinator at Bupa’s Highgate Care Home said: “It has been truly wonderful to be recognised in such a way for what I would consider to be part of my job, rather than a special achievement. I thoroughly enjoy working at Highgate, and it’s wonderful to see what a difference linking up with the local community can make to the lives of our residents. It is very important for our residents to feel a sense of community spirit, and feel involved in what is going on in the local area”. Colleagues from across Bupa were invited to join Bupa Chairman, Lord Leitch for a prestigious awards ceremony that took place recently at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, London.