Karleen Taylor-Williams
“Hens are excellent. We couldn’t do without them now. In the 69-bed nursing home that I manage every resident can have challenging behaviour, and working with HenPower has helped to bring a sense of calm. We don’t use prescribed sedatives or antipsychotics because the hens do it for us. “They are a brilliant visual and tactile distraction for the people who live here. The hens and the activities we now take part in just generally promote calmness.
“I’ve found it’s brought a focus for the staff, clients and relatives. We get everyone out in the garden all of the time now, because there’s a reason to be there. And we bring the hens in too for people to handle.
“We’d been treating the chickens for mites and everybody just gravitated to the windows to watch or spilled out into the garden to help. There was so much life and energy in what was happening. I was leaning over the fence, watching what was going on with one of our residents Shirley who is 77 and has Alzheimer’s. She said ‘D’you know what Karleen, I’m madly in love with the hens. I had never even thought about such things before. I like to stroke them. I like to feed them too. I like the newness of it all. When I saw them I thought wow, and I couldn’t stop looking at them. It was a very new idea to me, but I know which ones I like now. I used to just sit with me book and now I’ve got more to look at than just that. I like to talk to them. I sometimes wonder what they think of me.’
“HenPower encourages life and focus in my residents and in us all.”
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