HenPower

Grants to Equal Arts are one example of The Headley Trust’s work to improve older people’s quality of life in residential care homes. This falls under the Trust’s Health and Social Welfare category – which covers a wide range of initiatives to support disadvantaged families and young people, as well as older people.

Equal Arts is based in the northeast of England. It uses creativity to enhance wellbeing of older people by running projects in care homes and dementia care settings. This includes everything from artist- led workshops to choirs, plus a unique project called HenPower.

In 2011, the charity was working in a care home when a resident with dementia spoke about his ‘girls’ – they realised he was referring to his hens, and that he missed caring for them. Equal Arts bought a secondhand hen house and six hens – and the resident was able to spend time with them, reducing his distress. From this, the HenPower project began with the aim is to tackle isolation and improve older people’s wellbeing.

Tommy Appleby, 89, joined Equal Arts sessions after caring for his wife Irene for 25 years. “Equal Arts saved my life. I know it sounds dramatic, but it’s the truth,” Tommy says. “I was in a very bad way. I’d lost my wife one year previous. I always put her first. When she died, I didn’t know what to do anymore. I only knew how to look after her.”

The residents are actively involved in caring for hens, taking responsibility as they hatch eggs and rear chicks. The hens help residents to take part in other activities such as painting and music, as well as visits to schools, festivals, and community events. Research from Northumbria University found that the project improves the health and wellbeing of older people, reducing the need for some medications in care homes.

The programme has proved very successful and now covers other areas of England. Equal Arts have even taken their girls on the road for ‘Hen Roadshows’, raising awareness of this model’s benefits, with staff and participants of the programme speaking at university nursing courses and at public health conferences.

“I’ve made some great friends through HenPower,” says Tommy. “What I like that you’re not just entertained, you’re involved. You make decisions for yourself, and you work as a group. I love to tell everyone how it’s changed my life, about how it’s changing older people’s lives.”