Francis Court takes a walk on the wild side

Home news

Jul 11, 2017

Francis Court were given the opportunity to get up close and personal to a host of creatures and critters from around the globe.

As part of Dementia Awareness Week, the team at Francis Court care home on Borers Arms Road invited animal therapy specialists, ZooLab, to lead a ‘show and tell’ workshop with the residents.

A host of exotic animals, including a giant snail, scorpion, tree frog, snake, and tarantula, were among those presented to residents. 

As part of the session, ZooLab provided interesting facts on each of the individual animals, and residents who dared were also able to handle and stroke the interesting creatures.

Home manager, Mary Ballesteros, said: “We are always looking to plan interesting and exciting activities for residents, and as so many have a keen interest in nature and wildlife, we invited ZooLab along to provide a fun animal therapy session. 

“It proved to be a real success and you could see from residents’ reactions just how engaged and fascinated they were by the chance to get so close to such a varied collection of animals.  Not only did the workshop fit really well with our ‘activity based care’ approach here at Francis Court, it was also fantastic to see the smiles on everyone’s faces, and we believe it had real therapeutic benefits for residents – especially those living with dementia.”