Northampton care home hosts carnival drive-through so residents can wave to their loved ones

A care home in Northampton came up with an inventive way to allow residents to see their loved ones from a distance.

Burlington Court Care Home in Roseholme Road, Abington held a drive by on Thursday (May 21) that morphed into a parade and a mini carnival, according to the manager.

The drive by allowed residents to see loved ones for the first time since March 12 when visiting had to be banned due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Turvey, care home manager, said: “We wanted to put something on for the residents, and it all built from there.

“We rang round relatives and visitors to see who might like to come and drive through and it ended up becoming a bit of a parade.

“We have in gates and out gates, the car park is quite long and has 100 spaces so it worked really well.

“It was almost like a mini carnival.”

A total of 37 cars lined up to take part in the drive by, including 32 visitors and five members of staff who were off on the day.

Adam added: “We had cars queuing up to get in at 2pm and the residents were all lined up in the car park.

“Visitors drove through and waved, and they clapped to thank our staff too.

“Some even drove through five or six times, so the parade went on for around 40 minutes."

Even though it was a wave, a cheer and a quick ‘hello’ from a distance, the parade was emotional for many after having not seen their loved ones for ten weeks.

“It was wonderful and really emotional and the smiles on the residents’ faces were incredible,” Adam continued.

“They haven’t had visitors for such a long time so for them to be able to see sons, daughters, and grandchildren was really important.

“It’s really vital for people living in the care home because we’ve never known anything like this before.

“We normally have open visiting and the residents go out on day trips but they can’t do that now, so something like the drive by was important as although it was emotional it was upbeat too."

Adam also explained that the care home has received a number of positive messages and emails from relatives to say how important it was for them too.

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