Residents of 11 care homes across Lincolnshire are being provided with 10,000 luxury meals prepared by chefs at The Lincoln Hotel to support them through the omicron wave.
The individuals, who have learning disabilities, autism and complex physical and mental health needs, are supported by family-owned care provider Home From Home Care, which ordered the meals to help reduce the risk of transmission in its homes and ease team members’ workload.
The meals have been a welcome treat for the individuals and staff in their care homes, some of which are currently in lockdown to protect vulnerable individuals.
The Lincoln Hotel has been busy cooking and packaging the meals, which are delivered to each care home ready to be reheated and served by Home From Home Care team members each evening.
Director of Home From Home Care Hugo de Savary said: “Normally, the individuals we support go out shopping and are involved in preparing their own meals, but the realities of home lockdowns and staff isolation requirements have made this more challenging. To turn a potential negative into a big positive, we’ve decided to treat everyone with a series of delicious meals from the team at The Lincoln Hotel.
“Delivered fresh to each of our homes, our team then simply heat up the meals and serve, meaning that even during this current wave of the pandemic, the people we care for can enjoy fine dining with nutritious and delicious meals each day. This is a major undertaking which has had a huge impact on easing the workload for our team while also reducing the risk of Covid transmission.
“I’d like to say thank you to The Lincoln Hotel. It’s absolutely fantastic to have two organisations in the same community that are able to help each other, especially in two sectors that have been heavily impacted by the pandemic. Around 5,000 meals have already been enjoyed by the individuals we support so far and they absolutely love them!”
Taking charge of the preparation and delivery of the meals is Nicola Houltby, Deputy General Manager at The Lincoln Hotel, which is located beside Lincoln Cathedral. The hotel has been making the meals while also remaining open to dine-in visitors.
Nicola Houltby, Deputy General Manager at The Lincoln Hotel said:
“Home From Home Care couldn’t have their Christmas lunch with us as normal due to the need for care homes to be protected during the pandemic, but we then got a call asking whether we would be able to collaborate by providing meals for their homes, and we said yes.
“We’ve been doing it for the last three weeks and we’re now preparing meals until the end of January. We’ve done a monthly schedule so it’s been lasagne, chicken curry, chilli con carne; heartwarming meals provided seven days a week, which are quick and easy to warm through. The feedback has been great and it’d be lovely to continue this and help out as much as we can.”
Initially, Home From Home Care had planned for their traditional team Christmas lunch at The Lincoln Hotel, but the plans were shelved as cases of the omicron strain increased. Instead, the company now aims to hold four celebratory ‘thank you’ meals at the hotel for all 400 team members in the spring, when it’s hoped that case numbers will have reduced.
