The challenge: keep residents safe and comfortable, all year round
Fern Bank Therapeutic Community is an independent family-run care home that specialises in mental health care and supported living. Knowing that residents’ surroundings will directly impact their wellbeing, it’s important to the team that there are clean sheets and a warm, comfortable environment across Fern Bank’s 27 ensuite rooms.
Fern Bank is set in a large, detached Victorian house in Oldham, Greater Manchester. While full of homely character, the building used to feature a number of old, unreliable appliances including a boiler that regularly broke down. In some cases, areas of the home were going unheated while the staff waited for engineer support, which risked affecting the residents.
For these reasons, the Fern Bank team set out to find an equipment partner to help manage upgrades, keep things running smoothly, and reduce unexpected downtime with more responsive support, day or night.
The solution: Total Care from boilers to bedrooms
JLA’s partnership with Fern Bank began with a team of expert engineers working hard to maintain the home’s existing laundry equipment and boilers. From the beginning, JLA provided a reliable service, supporting Fern Bank with timely maintenance.
"Even before we began working with them, we knew JLA had a good reputation. We started out with servicing support, but as time went on, the call-outs became more regular. We realised we would need to replace our existing equipment to provide the best environment and care for our residents."
When it was time to invest in new equipment, Fern Bank chose Total Care – JLA’s unique, all-inclusive equipment and support package, which offers 24/7 assistance, same-day breakdown cover and no installation or call-out fees, for a simply monthly payment. JLA upgraded the home’s boilers and laundry room with highly efficient washers and dryers, along with the OTEX ozone laundry disinfection system, which was installed on the washing machines and kills 99.9% of harmful bugs on an energy-saving cool wash.
"JLA’s team of experts worked with us to help decide the best options for our setting. As we were upgrading lots of appliances at once, cost was a big consideration. Using Total Care meant that we didn’t have to pay any upfront cost to replace our equipment, instead, we could spread the cost and build it into our monthly budgets."
Alongside OTEX in the laundry room, Fern Bank has added JLA’s powerful Ozone Compact Room Sanitiser to its list of vital equipment. This portable system removes airborne and surface bacteria in as little as 45 minutes, and leave rooms smelling fresh, with no tacky surfaces.
"We use the room sanitiser on a daily basis, all throughout the home. It gives us real peace of mind because it kills bacteria and helps us reduce the transmission of infectious diseases."
Total Care also unlocks MyJLA, an online portal that allows Fern Bank’s team to view and manage essential documents, pay bills, and quickly book engineer visits. Fern Bank also makes use of MyJLA’s detergent shop, where it’s easy to order detergents and other essential consumables direct, and avoid running out.
"Being quite an organised person, I like to make sure we get our compliance certificates as soon as possible, so that we can present them at any inspections. You’ll find with other suppliers that it takes quite a while to get these sent over by email, whereas they’re available straight away in the portal."
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