New opening
waiting to come in, it was important for us that every one of them had the same [moving in] experience,” Sally tells me. “So, we staggered that over the past few months, just so every one of them had that great experience of coming in and feeling that they were the guest of honour.”
Community outreach Hallmark clearly saw a big opportunity for a luxury care home in Bath, as Sally explains: “This is the very first time for us to come into Bath and we realised that something of this standard just wasn’t available here. Hallmark designs and builds are all luxury. The plan is to acquire another ten sites over the next five years, so we’re always looking as to where would be the right location for us.
“[Bath is] a very affluent area,” Sally continues. “Lots of people retire to Bath, so it’s very much an aging population. We felt that this was a really great spot for us – where we could bring the Hallmark brand and really do this area justice.
“Our residents will come from within a
ten mile radius. The majority will be within five miles, because this is where their base is, this is where their friends are, where their family are, where they’ve brought up their children.
“The majority of our residents are coming from referrals within the local community, and my job as the customer relationship manager is to deal with those families on a daily basis,” Sally says. “The overriding thing I get told every day is: ‘we’ve heard amazing things about you’.” When I visited Angmering Grange last
year, it was clear that Hallmark is keen to ensure that local communities are kept onside, both during the construction process, but also – and perhaps more importantly – afterwards, and long into
Before we even broke ground on this site, it was important for us to integrate ourselves into the community
the future. With building works obviously having an impact on a surrounding area, creating strong local links has become a tried and tested route to positive engagement.
As Sally puts it: “How can we get into that community? How can we not be a nuisance whilst those building works are going on? What can we give back, and continue to give back?
“Before we even broke ground on this
site, it was important for us to integrate ourselves into the community,” she explains. “Setting up partnerships with the local hospitals and local businesses, just so we could be part of that community. We set up things such as our ‘community cuppa’, so right through the pandemic, even though we didn’t have our home here, we opened up via the local rugby club, just to engage the local community. “We just wanted to give back to the community and for them to be on board. The whole ethos of a Hallmark home is about being the centre of that community and having those engagements – we want to invite the local groups in to use our space. “We also host lots of events in our home,” she continues. “So, we’ll have the Parkinson’s Society coming in and using our space, local stroke survivors groups … That’s important for us, and we realised that that was really missing in this area. I reached out to [Parkinson’s Society] and they don’t have that support network, so we thought it was not just about bringing a home here, but actually offering that community support where it was greatly needed.” These community outreach projects are by no means exclusive to Midford Manor residents.
May 2024
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