Celebrating dignity at Belong Macclesfield

Maureen Hopley, from Alderley Edge, has spoken out as part of Dignity Action Day, about the importance that good care services offer to communities. Maureen lives at home in Alderley Edge with her mother Olive Quinn, 98. Olive has attended Experience Days at Belong Macclesfield, on Kennedy Avenue, for over two years now, enjoying the day care service as an opportunity to socialise and use facilities within the village.
Maureen said: "A couple of years ago some friends of ours had recommended that my mother might benefit from day care, but when we visited a care home nearby we found it very disappointing. The residents there didn't seem to have much to do and there didn't appear to be a lot of choice."
While Maureen and Olive were visiting friends at the Bistro in Belong Macclesfield, one of the members of staff there overheard them talking about the lack of choice in day care nearby, and invited them to try out an Experience Day in the village. They arranged a time for Olive to be collected from her home and dropped off afterwards, to receive a taste of the village exercise studio, hair salon and social events.
Maureen explained: "Well, my mum is hard lady to please, but she loved it, and has been visiting the village three times a week ever since. Even when she's a little under the weather, going to visit her friends at Belong Macclesfield really perks her up. When we go to Belong nobody is ever left alone; everybody is encouraged to get involved. They do different things every day. Mum went to a concert not long ago, and they threw her a party in the village for her birthday."
Caroline Ray, General Manager for Belong Macclesfield, said: "Maureen and Olive are a wonderful example of the difference that good care can make to quality of life. Dignity Action Day gives us an opportunity to talk about how important it is to respect the people receiving care, but what sometimes gets forgotten about is that carers also benefit from support. I know that Maureen gets a lot of her personal work completed while her mother visits us at Belong Macclesfield, and that means that they can spend better quality time together."
The Dignity Action Day was founded to highlight everybody's right to dignity, and the importance of ensuring that people who use care services are treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.