Students build visitor pod to allow supported housing residents to see their loved ones

Students and staff of City College Plymouth built and painted a brand new visitor pod for residents of Abbeyfield House in Ivybridge to safely enjoy visits from their loved ones. City College Plymouth got in touch with Abbeyfield House in late October 2020 after they saw a similar project take place on social media.

Carpentry students began building the pods for Abbeyfield House and other care homes in their local community, which took them six weeks. Shortly after it was built, the painting and decorating students offered to decorate it.

Emma Hooper, Work Experience and Placement Officer at City College Plymouth said: "We encourage our students at City College Plymouth to engage in meaningful experiences of the working world and to constantly develop their understanding of chosen industry areas. This includes providing opportunities for students to take part in projects which develop their technical skills and also support the local community, such as social action projects and volunteering. Our College team came across a visitors’ booth project on social media which had taken place elsewhere in the UK and we immediately thought this would be a fantastic project for our local community and students.

"Our Health and Social Care department have an established relationship with Abbeyfield House, who have kindly supported our students with work placement opportunities. We felt that this was a perfect opportunity to build on this relationship and give something back. Both staff and students from our carpentry and also painting and decorating trade courses were involved in designing, building and decorating the visitors' booth. It was most definitely a team effort for everyone involved.”

Abbeyfield House provides accommodation and care for up to 16 residents, along with two freshly cooked meals per day, a varied schedule of activities and a beautiful garden for the residents to enjoy. It is managed by The Abbeyfield Society, which has over 400 supported housing facilities, independent living complexes and care homes worldwide, supporting over 8,000 older people.

"We feel very honoured and proud to have had the opportunity to take part in such a worthwhile project,” Ms Hooper continued, “and we have been really pleased to hear of how the booth has helped residents to see their loved ones. Rebecca and her team at Abbeyfield have been fantastic to work with every step of the way."

One family member of a resident said “Finding out the pod was ready for use was great news. It was so lovely to be able to see Mum again after such a long time.” Another family member said that the pod “will make such a difference to the residents! Thank you so very much.”

“We are so very grateful to City College Plymouth for supplying, designing, creating and decorating this amazing visitor pod for us at Abbeyfield Ivybridge" said Rebecca Newton, Senior House Manager at Abbeyfield Ivybridge. "It surpassed all of our expectations and the entire team were wonderful from start to finish.”