Health and Social Care students at East Coast College have been spreading joy in the community by producing wellbeing activity packs for the young and old to enjoy.
The packs, which include a letter, pictures, craft ideas, jokes, recipes and quizzes, are being designed by Level 2 and 3 students at both the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth campuses to send out to care homes across Norfolk and Suffolk as well as youngsters in the community.
They are aimed at the elderly and high risk residents who are unable to see family and friends during the coronavirus outbreak as well as providing activities for children to enjoy at home or during school time for those whose parents working in key roles.
So far the packs have been sent to 30 care homes including Stradbroke Court and The Dell in Lowestoft, Decoy Farm and Burgh House in Great Yarmouth and Laurel Lodge in Norwich.
Emma Punter, Placement Coordinator for Health and Social Care, led the project to enable students to continue to support their placements during lockdown. She said: “In these unprecedented and scary times where social isolation puts an unnatural halt to visits and community engagement, we wanted to find a way to put a smile on faces and promote positive mental health and wellbeing in our community, while remaining safe.
“The isolation packs from students at East Coast College are created with a personal touch and include a special letter from the student who created it along with a diverse range of activities catering for all abilities. Our students may not be able to physically go out to placements so we have found a way to bring placement to the students in a more creative way.”
Sixteen-year-old Chloe Eden, who created one of the first packs to be sent out, wrote in her letter: “Times are really hard right now with COVID-19 and it has been tough being stuck inside all day. So I thought that this pack would brighten your day a little and inside are some activities you can do to help the day pass a little quicker and interact with those special people around you more.”