Latest news with #Jen
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rescued Baby Parrot Only Wants Cuddles During His First Week in His Forever Home
Rescued Baby Parrot Only Wants Cuddles During His First Week in His Forever Home originally appeared on PetHelpful. It takes a special person to open their heart and home to an animal in need, but rescuing a baby bird requires a whole other level of commitment. Many bird species, like Macaws, African Grey Parrots, and Cockatoos, can outlive their human family members, so they really are signing up for a lifelong commitment. Regardless, rescuing birds can also be one of the most rewarding things that avian moms like Jen ever do! This dedicated bird mom is the head of the @the_green_bird_brigade, her flock of 9 rescue parrots who help entertain and educate others about bird care through cute and resourceful TikTok videos. On June 10, however, Jen introduced her followers to her flock's newest addition, a baby macaw named Pyro. The young parrot may still be getting used to his new forever home, but endless cuddles with Mom and Dad are helping him feel comforted while he adjusts! I've never seen a baby parrot before! Pyro the macaw is positively stunning, from his rainbow of feathers to the affectionate, childlike way he interacts with his parents. It's easy to see why his parents fell for that sweet, feathered face!"He's just a baby?" one commenter asked. "I never realized how big they were. He's very handsome!" Isn't he? Even though he's still very young, Pyro would tower over adults of other bird species. But compared to other macaws, he's still quite small. Even though he's old enough to have his colorful feathers, Pyro is still in the fledgling stage when he learns to fly. Thankfully, his mom and dad are dedicated to helping his wings develop properly, so they practice flying in controlled environments like the bedroom. What a fluffy baby bird! Pyro isn't confident enough to rely on his wings by themselves, but he's learning more and more every day. This quick peek at the bird's training proves to everyone watching that Jen and her husband truly know what they're doing with their rescued pets. They are avian experts and bird lovers to the core, and they'll go above and beyond to ensure their parrots live the best lives possible. Clearly, Pyro couldn't be in better hands. This rescued baby bird's adventure is only beginning, and we can't wait to see what lies ahead. Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips. Rescued Baby Parrot Only Wants Cuddles During His First Week in His Forever Home first appeared on PetHelpful on Jun 17, 2025 This story was originally reported by PetHelpful on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
‘I feel like a drug dealer': the parents using black-market melatonin to help their children sleep
The first time I gave him a gummy, I thought, 'Oh my God, have I killed him?' He just passed out in front of the TV. That never happens.' Jen is remembering giving her son, David, six, melatonin to help him sleep. She got them from a friend, a paediatrician who gave them to her own child. 'It was sort of hilarious. She had half a tub of gummies, and her husband met my husband in a car park near a roundabout to hand them over, like some underhand black-market deal.' Her tone is light, but in fact she and her husband were becoming increasingly desperate for sleep. 'They were like gold dust.' By meeting in the car park to exchange the gummies, the husbands weren't breaking the law, exactly, but they were stepping into a legal grey area. Melatonin is a synthetic version of the sleep hormone that occurs naturally in our bodies, rising at night in response to darkness and helping us get to sleep. It isn't strictly illegal in the UK, but it is a prescription-only medication, and it can only be prescribed to children by a paediatrician under a specific set of circumstances, usually for children with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD. The rationale for this pathway is so that the paediatric specialist can rule out any potentially physical causes or underlying disease relating to the sleep disorder. Side-effects can include drowsiness the next day, nausea and feeling dizzy. In other European countries melatonin is far more accessible, often sold in pharmacies, although the guidelines for use in children are the same (both there and in the UK, it is licensed only for children with autism and ADHD). In the US, meanwhile, where it is far less regulated, you can buy it in supermarkets, even from Amazon, and it is often specifically targeted at children. Some gummies come in the shape of teddy bears, or are marketed using cartoon characters. There, it is routinely given to neurotypical children: nearly one in five US children under 14 are now consuming melatonin. In light of more restricted access in the UK, British parents are increasingly looking to the internet to purchase gummies, often with little medical oversight or supervision. David never slept, Jen tells me. Even as a newborn he was unusually alert. Where other babies ate and slept, he ate and was awake, and never settled easily. 'In the early days you're in good company,' she says, of the sleep deprivation. But, as time went on, she began to feel increasingly isolated. 'People kept saying it will improve when he starts nursery, when he starts preschool. It never did. We just never had an evening. We'd be putting him to bed, sometimes, at 11 o'clock or midnight.' David was also having massive meltdowns. Despite trying a calm bedtime routine, nothing seemed to be working, and it was taking a toll on the entire family. Jen was so exhausted she was forced to stop working completely. As David grew, his parents started to suspect neurodivergence. He could count to 20 at 18 months, and was doing 30-piece jigsaw puzzles. An educational psychologist has recently confirmed that he is gifted to the extent that it will affect his life significantly, and he has been on the waiting list for an autism assessment for two years. When he was five, he was taken to see a paediatric consultant in the European country they were living in at the time. 'I think my pineal gland's broken,' David told the doctor, much to everyone's astonishment. He was prescribed melatonin, and their lives changed for the better overnight. Had they been living in the UK at the time, they would almost certainly still be waiting. 'Although people think of melatonin as a vitamin nowadays, it's not. It's actually a hormone that's released by the pineal gland in the brain, and it does lots,' says Prof Paul Gringras, a sleep and neurodisability consultant at Evelina London children's hospital, and president of the International Paediatric Sleep Association. 'The pineal gland connects with all different parts of the body and helps synchronise all the cells in the body to keep our body clock going. Although every cell in the body has its own little clock, they're not synchronised and they need to be held together. Melatonin is one of the main messengers.' David's description of his pineal gland as 'broken' was rather astute, then. Certain populations of children, such as those with autism and ADHD, simply sleep far worse than typically developing children – Gringras tells me the rates are 70-80% of children with those diagnoses. My brother, who is autistic, mostly non‑verbal with very high support needs, was one such child. 'It was soul-destroying,' my mum, Anna, remembers. 'Just mind-bendingly exhausting.' Thanks to melatonin, prescribed by the paediatrician, she could get four hours of sleep a night. 'He didn't sleep for more than two or three hours at a time. What the melatonin did was keep him asleep for at least four hours and I could cope, just about, if I got four and a half hours.' I have seen first-hand the impact that sleeplessness can have on a family, and how neurodivergence and sleep issues are often intertwined. 'Some children with autism lack a gene that helps convert a chemical in the body called tryptophan into melatonin. So if you measure melatonin levels in the urine, they're actually producing less melatonin,' says Gringras. As for ADHD, those children do produce some melatonin, 'but instead of it being the hormone of darkness, produced in the early evenings, they're not producing it till way later, until two in the morning'. These families need help. If their child's sleep is being managed by professionals, their parents are less likely to get divorced, lose their jobs, crash the car or have an accident. That's not to say, however, that all these children must be medicated. Gringras is keen to emphasise that behavioural sleep programmes can be transformative, even in the most severe cases. In one sleep trial he ran, 50% of the severely autistic children who were signed up didn't need to take part in the medicated bit, because the behavioural strategies had been so successful. When he does prescribe melatonin, parents still need to keep the behavioural approach going so that they have learned new habits for when the melatonin stops working. 'Even on the labelling of these medicines, it says: for children who have failed an appropriate behavioural intervention,' he points out. What concerns him, and other professionals I speak to, is the idea of melatonin as a sticking plaster. 'Many of the [paediatric] community are on their knees. They have massive waiting lists. They don't have psychologists. And this is one of my really big worries, that it kind of becomes a quick fix. No one thinks it's better than the behavioural approach, but they just haven't got time to do that. And it's faster to write a prescription, but it's not correct.' That is, of course, if you are even able to get hold of a prescription. Most of the parents I spoke to didn't have one. They were buying melatonin on the internet, or while abroad. All of them felt conflicted, uneasy, even scared of the consequences. Some were waiting for a diagnosis, while others suspected neurodivergence but hadn't gone down that path yet. All of them only spoke on condition of anonymity, and every single one of them was totally desperate for a good night's sleep. 'It makes me feel like a drug dealer. It's getting harder and harder to buy them.' I'm speaking to Charlotte, who, like Jen, has spent much of her child's life enduring 'endless evenings', which she describes as 'unbearable'. Her daughter, Edie, now 10, couldn't settle. 'She'd lie in bed moving around a lot, jerking her body. She just couldn't sleep.' As a family, they tried everything. 'We'd do bath time and lavender oil and reading a story and talking, and then we'd try leaving her on her own. Nothing worked. We'd just have to lie with her for hours.' They wondered quite early on if Edie had ADHD, but didn't pursue diagnosis. 'She's really brilliant and wonderful, but she was quite volatile, and really quite hyperactive.' They first started giving her melatonin when she was eight, when Charlotte's sister-in-law, a doctor whose disabled daughter takes melatonin, gave her some to try. Charlotte was astonished – not only did Edie go to sleep at 8pm, but the effect on her behaviour and mood was transformative. She started buying it online. Charlotte thinks that Edie's volatility is directly linked to her sleep. A model student at school who struggled with peer relationships, she would mask, or hold it together, until she got home where she could become aggressive towards her parents and siblings. At times her mental health difficulties have been extreme. 'She was getting more and more anxious and having very, very dark dreams and getting very upset,' says Charlotte. 'She started banging her head against the wall till it bled. And then she started banging her sister's head against the wall till it bled.' Things escalated. On one occasion Edie got on the roof and threatened to jump, saying she wanted to die. 'The fact that she couldn't sleep was a massive contributor to her feeling super stressed and highly sensitive,' says Charlotte. 'When we started giving her melatonin it got a lot better. Then last year I ran out of melatonin. I couldn't buy it.' It was like a switch flicked inside Edie's brain. 'She tried to run in front of a speeding lorry because she said everyone hated her. And then she started holding knives to her neck. She didn't want to go to school. And I didn't know what to do.' Charlotte ran to the doctor's surgery with her child in her arms. 'We went to see a counsellor, and we borrowed some money to get her assessed. And it came back as not ADHD, but autism,' she says. She also had an emergency mental health appointment, but all they could offer a suicidal autistic child who struggles with groups was, astonishingly, group therapy nine months later. 'Then they said, 'How is her sleep?' And I said, 'Well …', and the woman said to me, 'If you are about to tell me that you give your child unprescribed melatonin, I will have to report you to social services and they will take action.' And I was like, fuck. And it was really stressful.' Gringras is shocked when I tell him about the safeguarding threat made to Edie's mum. It is true that safeguarding is very important, and buying medication on the internet comes with risks. In the US, there has been a spike in child hospitalisations – poison control centres there saw a 530% spike in reports of melatonin ingestion in children between 2012 and 2021 – and seven reported deaths since 2015, including a child as young as two months. Gringras points out that the lack of US regulation means there often isn't dosage consistency across even a single jar of gummies. A study last year found that some contained an alarming 50mg of melatonin – 0.5-1mg is the recommended starting paediatric dose. Linking these deaths directly to melatonin is a challenge because you can't exclude underlying health conditions or whether other medications played a part. Nevertheless, it is concerning. 'I don't think it's fair to come down hard on a parent if they're not getting the support they need, and they're just doing something out of desperation. I think the real question is: why haven't we been able to support the parent with behavioural advice? Why haven't we been able to see the child and reassure them, maybe, hopefully, they don't have something physically wrong? And why are we going to make them wait three years for a diagnosis?' All the parents I spoke to expressed unease, guilt and even fear at their decision to give their children melatonin bought online or abroad. Jen told me she was worried about being arrested, and, though the school Senco is aware the family uses it, she would hesitate to mention it to a GP. Even parents who were giving melatonin under some degree of medical supervision, usually from a family member who works as a doctor, felt anxious. I spoke to doctors who give their own children melatonin bought online but wouldn't go on the record for fear of professional consequences. Although Edie now has an autism diagnosis, and Charlotte is finding it increasingly hard to get melatonin on the internet, the threat of a social services referral means she is now frightened to talk to a paediatrician about getting it prescribed officially. 'The other day we had a hospital appointment. We were asked, does she take any medication? And I said no. And Edie looked at me and I just shook my head.' But it's not only parents of neurodivergent children who are turning to melatonin. I spoke to a number of mothers who have given it to their neurotypical children. One, Isobel, says she has only used it a couple of times when taking an overnight flight, having obtained it from an American relative. 'The first time, my daughter was four, and my youngest was nearly two. As they were one-offs, and as it's sold for use by kids in the US, I wasn't worried about the side‑effects and felt it was safe in that quantity.' Emily has been giving melatonin to her children – eight and four – for longer. She gave it to her eldest when she started year 1 and began struggling to get to sleep – sometimes she was awake until 11pm, and teachers had started raising concerns about how tired she was. 'We'd have to drag her out of bed and she'd be exhausted. It was really distressing,' Emily said. At her wits' end, and worried that her daughter was falling behind at school, she ordered some melatonin online. She did a lot of research, choosing a brand used by a paediatrician quoted in an article in the New York Times, and says she kept an eye out for side-effects such as sleepwalking or drowsiness the next day. The effect, Emily says, was 'life-changing'. 'It freaked me out a little bit. I was like, oh my God, what have I done? What have I given to her? Why has this happened? But she fell asleep after 20 minutes and it felt very natural. She had a few stories. She just got naturally drowsy. She fell asleep. Then the next morning, she woke at a normal time, bright and ready for school.' After that, Emily gave her a gummy every night for eight or nine months, but says she no longer needs it. 'I was really worried they'd get addicted to it, but it's almost like the melatonin helped them form a new habit [of going to sleep at a decent time].' She now gives it to her youngest child, who at four-and-a-half developed similar issues, and it has had the same effect on bedtime. She has recommended it to a few parents she knows from school and some are also giving it to their children. 'One friend, her partner died when her kid was very little, in a really awful, traumatic way. I think that kid was basically suffering from PTSD, would get really emotional at night and wouldn't go to sleep. She came to me going, 'Oh my God, I'm just having the worst time and I'm not getting any sleep and she's not getting sleep …' I was like, 'Hey, it's up to you whether or not you take this advice, but I would recommend this.'' Whether a child is neurodivergent or not, with the right insight and support, behavioural changes can be transformative for families, Kerry Davies, a sleep practitioner and founder of private sleep support service the Sleep Fixer, tells me. She has many years of experience, including working for the charity Scope as part of a joint NHS and local authority funding initiative within children's services, with the goal of reducing melatonin prescription costs by supporting children to sleep without it. 'I look at the whole picture: where the child's at, where the parents are at. I do a phased, step-by-step guide based on what that family need,' she says. 'How consistent is their morning wake-up time? Because this can often be a difficulty with children who perhaps sleep in late during the weekends but are woken up early during the week, which can confuse the body clock. I'll ask what time are they actually falling asleep, and manage parental expectations around what might be appropriate.' She mentions some parents putting their children to bed far too early as an example. 'Then we look at how much physical activity they're getting during the day. Physical activity really helps to be able to fall asleep and maintain sleep. What's their bedroom environment like? Is it consistent through the night? Do they struggle with noise? Do they struggle with silence?' Having such tailored support from a sleep practitioner can radically improve a family's mental and physical health, but accessing it remains a problem. 'It is a postcode lottery as to whether there's a service or a sleep practitioner that you're able to access,' Davies says. 'The parents of neurodivergent children may have been failed a lot in their journey.' Davies says there should be behavioural support services in every country, regardless of where a child lives, and that with that in place she would feel comfortable if GPs were able to prescribe melatonin. She says: 'If I could wave a magic wand, there would be behavioural support that coincides with melatonin, attempting to taper off while continuing that behaviour support so you have those long-term solutions.' Ultimately, this is about crumbling services, and desperate parents and children being left chronically sleep deprived without any support. Can they be blamed, then, for being at crisis point and trying to find a solution? Were they to be given the help they need, they might not need the melatonin at all. And, by giving it without official medical oversight, how can the children be supported to taper off? Gringras – who as part of a melatonin taskforce has contributed to a guide for caregivers – says we know 'hardly anything' about the long-term effects of melatonin use. 'For children with autism, the best we've got is two years follow-up data, really. So we know over a two-year period it's safe, but if you said to me, well, do we know it's safe over a five-year period? The answer is no, we don't. We hope it is. And whenever we prescribe a medicine, we're never naive. It's always a balance of benefits against harm. But if it's a child who's got significant learning problems, who's tearing the house up and whose parents can't cope, then that tips your balance.' Gringras agrees with the rationale that melatonin should only be prescribed by a specialist. It's the wait for a diagnosis that is creating the biggest barrier. 'I think we've made the diagnosis slightly too involved and time-consuming,' he says. 'We spend less time managing it and too much time diagnosing it. I'll be so unpopular with that [viewpoint].' He says sleep problems in early childhood should be a warning sign for developmental paediatricians who are assessing children with possible neurodivergence. Where he is convinced a child is autistic or has ADHD, due to it being very apparent, or there being a strong family history, he will sometimes prescribe the medicine off-label (legally prescribing a medicine for a different use from the one it is licensed for). It was concerns over the long-term effects – including claims that melatonin can interfere with or even delay puberty (something a 2020 study found no evidence of) – that stopped one mother I speak to from continuing to administer it to her daughter. Like every parent I spoke to, Helen was spending hours each night trying to help her daughter calm down enough to sleep. It was affecting her mental health, and, one evening, out of sheer desperation, she gave her some melatonin in her drink. It worked instantly, and Helen carried on using it for a while, but, she says: 'It didn't sit comfortably with me. I didn't want to be in a situation where I had to use melatonin to get her to sleep, and I didn't feel comfortable using it long-term. I don't really want to give my child something I don't know is completely safe to take.' Charlotte understands this viewpoint, and shares much of the same feelings. Things had reached a point with Edie, however, where she could simply see no alternative. 'I think it saved her life, ultimately, and saved our marriage and saved our family.' Some names have been changed. The Republic of Parenthood by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is published by September on 7 August (£18.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What to expect from the Fed's June FOMC meeting next week
Federal Reserve officials will be convening in Washington, D.C, next week for their June FOMC meeting, starting on Tuesday and concluding on Wednesday with a decision on interest rates and a press conference with the US central bank's Chair Jerome Powell. Yahoo Finance senior Fed reporter Jennifer Schonberger outlines what to expect from next week's Fed meeting, including what the dot plot may signal about interest rate cut forecasts for 2025. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. The Federal Reserve likely to hold interest rates steady at next week's June meeting, but we are expected to get an updated dot plot on Wednesday. For more on what to expect from that upcoming Fed meeting, let's welcome in Yahoo Finances Jennifer Schonberger. Hey Jen, how are you? What, what are we looking for? Hey Julie, I mean, has it been six weeks already? Because I feel like I just blinked, and here we are, another Fed meeting. The Fed are widely expected to hold interest rates steady next week, but investors are going to have their eye on something else. Whether policymakers retain expectations for two interest rate cuts this year. And many Fed watchers expect the Fed will stick with two cuts as they weigh so many unknowns, from whether tariffs will push up prices or push down growth, to geopolitical risks. Former Kansas City Fed President Esther George told me, given just how fluid things are at the moment, she predicts that they'll be reluctant to signal changes from where they were earlier. She says they don't want to shake markets and cause people to think that things are going to be tighter for longer. President Trump, of course, has been hammering the Fed and Fed Chair J. Powell to speed up the timetable for any rate cuts, most recently citing milder inflation. But Powell and many of his fellow policymakers have made it clear in recent weeks that they're still more worried about the risks of higher prices from Trump's tariffs than any risk in unemployment as they weigh both sides of their dual mandate. Adding to that, the impact of Israel's strike on Iran, and whether a protracted war could lead to higher oil prices and inflation this summer. Fed not Fed watchers note that the job market, although it has been cooling, isn't showing any cracks, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2%, a historical low, while wages are growing at nearly 4%. Investors currently betting that the Fed is not going to cut rates until September, but many I talked to say the Fed ought to leave the door open for a rate cut in July, lest they box themselves in like they did last summer, where they took July off the table during the June meeting, only to find themselves having to cut by 50 basis points in September. Julie? Yes, and Fed critics will always say that they're too late or too early, so we'll see what happens this time. There's always an opinion, right? There is. Thanks, Jen.
Daily Record
12-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Mum's warning about 'overlooked' home cleaning task that could lead to fire
A professional home organiser and mum of five has warned how not cleaning a certain part of the home can be a fire hazard A mum with 823,000 followers on her home organisation Instagram account has emphasised the necessity of cleaning a frequently overlooked part of the house to prevent fire hazards. Jen Watson, a professional home organiser and mum-of-five, amassed her large following on social media by sharing a plethora of clever tips and tricks to assist others. The organisational guru provides advice on a variety of subjects, from the "best way to roll a towel" to a video that has sparked considerable interest. In the viral clip, Jen underscores the importance of regularly cleaning tumble dryer filters and air vents to avoid potential house fires. Not all UK homes have dryer vents. Condenser or heat pump models are generally more common, possibly because they don't require external venting. These models collect moisture from clothes internally and then drain it or store it in a tank which can be manually emptied. However, if you do own a vented tumble dryer, Jen cautions about the risks associated with allowing dust and lint to accumulate. In the video, the mum is seen meticulously cleaning a dryer vent, removing an alarming amount of lint. She captioned the footage: "I don't know who needs to hear this but if you go years without cleaning those dryer vents, your house could go up in flames." She further detailed in the post's caption that she had neglected her own vents for years, as it seemed like a non-urgent task that was constantly postponed. Concerned about the risk of a house fire, she promptly purchased a dryer vent cleaning kit online and set about clearing the blockage. She warned: "Not cleaning your dryer vent for years can lead to serious and dangerous consequences. "Lint is highly flammable. Over time, it accumulates in the vent and dryer duct, creating a perfect fuel source. A clogged dryer vent is one of the leading causes of house fires related to dryers." Moreover, a blocked vent can cause increased energy bills and waste, as it forces the dryer to operate longer and harder to dry clothes. This issue may also harm both the dryer and the garments, as "overheating caused by poor airflow can shorten the life of your dryer. Clothes may also be damaged from excessive heat". Jen also highlighted the danger of moisture becoming trapped in a clogged vent, which can create a "damp environment" conducive to mould and mildew growth. Additionally, neglecting to clear your dryer vent could breach insurance policies, potentially complicating claims in the event of a fire caused by this oversight. The message has resonated with online audiences, amassing over 1,600 likes, with numerous individuals expressing appreciation for Jen's guidance. One user responded: "I just cleaned mine today. It's needed it."
Daily Mirror
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'My grandma is in a care home and she has more exciting life than me'
Jen Atkin couldn't believe her eyes as she realised what her grandma was getting up to at her care home after she discovered her diverse monthly activity guide We all want the best service money can buy for our family members when they go to live in a care home, and it's great to be safe in the knowledge that they are keeping busy and having a good time. For one woman, however, that reached a whole new level when she read her grandma 's activity guide during a recent visit. Jen Atkin took to TikTok to share to the world what her gran was getting up to in June - and one particular activity left her in a state of shock. Whilst some were relatively ordinary - a morning quiz on June 20 and biscuit-making on June 28 - others, namely one activity on June 13, were far from it. "Granny, you do know on Friday 13 you've got 'Butler in the Buff'?" Jen asked in shock. With her grandma laughing in the background of her clip, she continued: "It means you've got a butler - and he's naked!" Gobsmacked Jen, who was Miss Great Britain 2020, also highlighted further activities including 'Boozy Bingo', 'Pimms afternoon' and 'Cheese and wine afternoon'. She closed: "This place sounds great!" Jen's followers were clearly impressed, with one saying: "I love that this entertainment coordinator has not forgotten these are grown people who probably loved a quick drink in the pub or a sherry after dinner and the butler in the buff is hilarious... let these elderly live and have the dirtiest of laughs." A second noted: "I love how they've thrown in some church services to balance out the boozy bingo and butler in the buff!" A third quipped: "Better social life than me. Maybe going in a care home ain't that bad after all." A fourth person joked: "Forwarding this video to my son so he knows where to send me when the time comes! Your nan's care home sounds like an all inclusive holiday! Love this for her!" Meanwhile, a fifth TikTok user said: "As someone who was an activity coordinator in a care home, we would never have got away with this. If I had i would maybe have lasted longer in the job!" Jen will no doubt be hoping her grandma recovers in time from her naked butler exploits to take part in movie afternoon the following day. Other notable June activities include 'Gentleman's Club' on 26th, a 70s themed exercise carnival on 27th and 'Ball activity afternoon on 29th'. According to the government's website, the care homes sector is worth around £15.9 billion a year in the UK, with around 410,000 residents. "We calculate that there are around 5,500 different providers in the UK operating 11,300 care homes for the elderly," the government states. It adds: "As the population continues to age, demand for care will increase and the types of care needed will change. "The Office for National Statistics predicts a 36% growth in persons aged 85+ between 2015 and 2025, from 1.5 million to 2 million. This is expected to lead to a substantial increase in demand for care home services."
