Hillcrest Care Home brings exercise into the lives of their residents with Shapemaster

Hillcrest Care Home is a privately owned, CQC 3* residential home located in Pontefract. They specialise in working with those who have learning disabilities as well as physical disabilities and their specialist care categories include autism, cancer care, cerebral palsy, stroke and visual impairment.

As well as the residential facility they also run two day activity centres. When Hillcrest Care Home were informed by Physiotherapists that two of their residents who suffer from cerebral palsy had reached the point where there was no other option that to put them into wheelchairs they desperately tried to find a solution which would help them avoid this. Often once a patient is transferred to a wheelchair, they inevitably suffer increased loss of mobility, together with deterioration in circulation which causes a higher risk of heart attack and often results in loss of bladder and bowel control. This reduces the quality of life for the resident as well as increasing the level of care required. As such Hillcrest wanted to find a safe, easy way to help the residents exercise and strengthen their muscles in order for them to keep mobile. 

Hillcrest approached Shapemaster as they had read about the benefits of power assisted exercise on the internet. Shapemaster consulted with their therapy staff to understand the particular mobility issues of the residents they were treating and which parts of their bodies in particular needed strengthening. Shapemaster then identified the pieces of equipment which would allow them to exercise and stretch the required muscle groups, whilst fitting into the limited space available and also the allocated budget! The results were so good that Hillcrest invested in further pieces of equipment.

8 years later and the two residents who the equipment was originally purchased for are still NOT in wheelchairs and their mobility has vastly improved. All residents now use the equipment on a regular basis and all have demonstrated improvements, whether it be through improved mobility, better health or weight loss.