National Activity Providers Association (N.A.P.A.) Challenge 2018

In 2018, Aveley Lodge Care Home proudly won the national N.A.P.A. Challenge which is an annual event for all Care Homes around the UK to take part in. The aim of this challenge set in April 2018, was to choose at least three Commonwealth countries to focus on and then complete the 3‘P’s to win £500. The three ‘P’s were:

1. Provide food that will encourage conversations
2. Persuade folk to move and mobilise more by setting up unusual places to ‘visit’ either within the home or in the community
3. Post materials around that will tap into memories linked to the Commonwealth

Our residents were asked to vote on which Commonwealth countries they’d like to know more about and sample foods from. The residents chose New Zealand, Pakistan and Cyprus. Displays were placed around the Home providing information on each of these countries and a questionnaire devised for the residents to answer by reading the information displayed on these boards. We also decided to tie the challenge in with the Commonwealth Games which were taking place at the same time as the challenge. We chose 5 traditional Commonwealth Game events; Table Tennis, Badminton, Lawn Boules, Rhythmic Gymnastics (ribbon, ball and hoops) and Track. The residents were split into 3 teams of mixed abilities, each representing one of our chosen Commonwealth Countries. Over the course of the nominated week, each resident and their teams took part in one event each day culminating on the Friday with the track event (a circuit around the home), the medal and trophy ceremony and the N.A.P.A. challenge lunch. The lunch consisted of foods from the selected countries with a printed menu which contained discussion points and “Did you know?” facts. All the residents, no matter what their abilities, enjoyed taking part in this action packed week and we have therefore decided to hold this as an annual event.

We were thrilled to have been informed in September 2018 that Aveley Lodge had been crowned the national winners of this challenge. As well as receiving a trophy and certificate, we won £500 for our Residents Fund. The judges said about us “Aveley Lodge ticked every box on the requirement to explore Communities Near and Far and in the process explored many new experiences with their residents. We were most impressed that they have taken what they have learnt and have used it to change the way they do some things particularly around food and menus”.