05/06/2024
Teddy at Cheviot Court Care Home
Teddy, the lovely, relaxed Shih Tzu, has been coming to work with Louise at Cheviot Court Care Home for 5 1/2 years. That's not quite as long as Louise however, who has been at Cheviot Court since it opened 20 years ago, along with the housekeeper who is set to retire shortly.
It’s just the best thing to see how much the residents appreciate having a dog around, there’s even one resident who waits by their window each morning at 7am to wave at Teddy when he arrives for the day. Paula and Terry who organise the lifestyle activities at the care home take Teddy around to visit all the residents who all (well, mostly all - some people are cat people you know!) love to see him so much but they do have to keep a close eye on what the residents try to feed him!
Teddy's main base at the care home is Louise's office where he watches all the comings and goings in the main reception area and sometimes choosing Louise's desk as an excellent vantage point! Louise’s office has an amazing calm and positive vibe to it. Although Louise says the job of managing the care home and its 73 residents can be pretty tough sometimes (Covid was a particularly heartbreaking time), she loves to see how happy they are living under her care. She and the staff really do so much to make this one of the top-ranked care homes in South Tyneside.. with loads of activities and fundraisers, I could see they are like one big family.
I saw a couple of the residents while we were looking for the best spot for the shot and they were all super keen to have Teddy come over and say hello. We chose the conservatory for the photo and although for the photograph I fancied using one of the many hoists they have, they didn't actually look that interesting from the dog’s eye level, so we used a wheelchair and Zimmer frame as much more identifiable props.
Teddy will have his sixth birthday next month but even in dog years, that's nothing compared to the fantastic ages that some of the residents have celebrated! 102 being their high score, one lady reaching her 100th birthday last month and another centenary coming up in September.
If you’d like to be part of this project, please check out this page and click the "get involved" button at the bottom https://www.purplepom.com/one-dog