To help ease the boredom during lockdown a member of staff from Guinness Care has come up with a brilliant idea to keep residents, who live in sheltered housing schemes 
in Exeter, Tiverton and Willand, entertained.
While making her regular phone calls to residents Chloe Burrow, who works as an Independent Living Adviser across the sheltered housing schemes, asked if they would be interested in having a jigsaw puzzle to complete while they are stuck indoors during lockdown.
After getting a positive response from the residents Chloe asked the local community, via Facebook, if they had any old jigsaw puzzles they would like to donate and she received 30 in the first week. More followed and now she has over 100 puzzles taking over her spare room and car boot!
Andrew George from Exeter said: “It’s been fantastic having these puzzles to do, especially in the evenings. I find them relaxing.”
Chloe Burrow, Independent Living Advisor at Guinness Care said: “I was inspired to create a jigsaw library after my colleague, Jackie Jones, had previously taken puzzles between our housing schemes.
“Being able to deliver puzzles to the residents is becoming a really nice way to connect to them and it gives us something else to talk about on the phone each week when I call.
“Together with Guinness’s Health & Safety team we have put good procedures in place, including social distancing, to ensure everybody stays safe during this difficult time.”
To ensure the safety of the residents and staff each puzzle is rested unopened for seven days before being issued. Then right before delivery, the puzzle box is wiped down with alcohol-based sanitiser. Chloe wears PPE when doing this and she puts the puzzle into a single use plastic bag just before leaving it on the resident’s doorstep.