Page 41 - QARANC Vol 14 No 6 2013

DSHS COHORT 04/12 Royal Star & Garter Charity fundraising
The Royal Star & Garter Charity provides nursing, specialist & therapeutic care to the ex-Service Community at its Richmond, Surrey and Solihull, West Midlands Homes.
Since its foundation in 1916, the Royal Star & Garter has prided itself in delivering quality care that promotes independence and living the fullness of life. The Royal Star & Garter Charity has indeed always remained true to its philosophy that “there is no such thing as a hopeless case” and all residents, now and then, are cared for with astounding support and therapy. The first 65 residents admitted to The Royal Star & Garter home in 1916; during WW1 were just an average age of 22. Some eventually returned home, whilst others continued to be provided with the highest level of care to ensure that the years they spent were enriched in a place they could call home. With the advancements in modern medicine and growing needs of our aging population, research now estimates that by the year 2020 there will be 115,000 veterans in need of residential care; of whom 40,000 will have dementia. Currently there are just over 1,050 beds available in ex-Service care homes in England, 220 caring for those suffering with dementia. As the need for Royal Star & Garter services increase the charity continues to create new purpose built homes that provide good quality care for its military community. In addition to caring for its ex-Service community, the Royal Star & Garter provide a first class residential care placement experience for student nurses undergoing training at the Defence School of Health Education (DSHE).
My student nurse group during our second year of training at DSHE were so inspired at The Royal Star & Garters dedication to provide outstanding care to its veterans that we decided as a whole group to raise monies for its charity in order to give something back to our ex-Serving community. On the 21 October 2012 all 12 nursing students from COHORT 04/12; made up of 11 QARANC students and 1 PMRAFNS student successfully completed the Birmingham Half Marathon raising £687.95 for The Royal Star & Garter Home, Solihull, West Midlands.
COHORT 04/12
the 7th November 2012 to The Royal Star & Garter in Solihull to present Sue Tompkins, Home Manager, with a cheque for monies that we had raised.
We were given a warm welcome by residents and staff; afternoon tea was a welcome surprise that gave us the opportunity to talk to residents about ‘the good old days’ discussing how the Armed Forces used to be compared to how it is now was of notable interest. Once the COHORT had exchanged stories and full from cake we were allowed a tour of the premises. The homes facilities are no less than impressive, they include an elegant dining room, a licensed bar (no ex-Services home would be complete without one!), a variety of lounges to relax in, a hairdressers and lots of activities for the residents to engage in.
From my point of view as a QARANC nursing student The Royal Star & Garter offer their residents a person-centred framework of care that promotes well-being and independence, that has access to specialist care such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and audiology clinics.
After the visit the whole COHORT agreed that The Royal Star & Garter is the type of place that we would all like to spend our golden years, albeit none of us were allowed to join the waiting list just yet!. The COHORT thoroughly enjoyed the reception at The Royal Star & Garter home in Solihull as the residents and staff made us feel like we were at home, we cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. I have a feeling that won’t be our last visit.
Cpl Stuart Randall QARANC
THE GAZETTE QARANC 39
COHORT 04/12 were invited on
Cpl Randall presenting the cheque to Sue Tompkins, Home Manager