A RESIDENT at Gibraltar Nursing Home recently celebrated her 91st birthday with a cake specially made by the care home and a reflection on her life.

Audrey also known as Jingy, recently celebrated her 91st birthday at Gibraltar Nursing Home and to mark the special occasion the team made a special cake for her.

House Lead Dani decorated the cake with flowers, greenery and finished it off with a small dog figurine crafted from icing. The detail was extremely meaningful as she holds a great love for animals, dogs especially which remain central to her identity today.

Jingy lives with Small Vessel Disease and is on a cognitive journey so at times this can affect how she interprets the world around her, Her sense of reality can feel fluid and she can experience periods of confusion.

When someone is on a cognitive journey, they might not always be able to verbalise what they need to feel safe or what is important to them. By taking the time to understand someone’s life history, values, relationships and the experiences which have shaped them, care can be built around and who they are rather than focusing only on their diagnosis and what they might be experiencing.

Although cognitive conditions may cause memory changes and shifts in perception, there are often routines, traits and personal preferences and Jingy’s story shows how person-centered care can help someone feel seen, supported and understood for who they are and what matters to them most.

Jingy was born in 1935 in a small, terraced house in Stockport, Cheshire. When she was just four years old World War II started. Her father who was a barber by trade left to serve in the military in Africa, Italy and parts of Europe.

He was away for four years, and her mother worked in a grocery shop and later contributed towards the war efforts by helping to manufacture munitions used in aircraft raids over Germany. During the aircraft raids over Manchester, Jingy spent time sheltering underground like so many other children did of that generation.