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Plea by Devon carers – make contact with elderly in Loneliness Awareness Week

Published: 12th June 2020 12:55

DEVON carers are encouraging people to continue to maintain contact through social distancing with their elderly relatives, friends and neighbours to prevent loneliness as the Coronavirus restrictions are relaxed (June 2020). 

As part of national Loneliness Awareness Week, hosted by the Marmalade Trust, from June 15, the team at HomeLife Carers wants to raise awareness of older people who still aren’t socialising. 

Regional Manager for HomeLife Katie Jewell, who looks after its offices in Barnstaple, Okehampton, Plymouth and Tiverton, says: “The understandable need for the lockdown and for the vulnerable and elderly to be shielded at home has led to many becoming lonelier as they are not getting enough social interaction. This can have a devastating impact on their physical and mental wellbeing. To add to this, as the restrictions lift and people go back to their pre-lockdown daily routines and also back into work, they may forget that the elderly are not able to do this. They are missing out on vital socialisation as the social gatherings, lunch clubs, societies and events they used to attend are no longer running for safety reasons.

“While we appreciate these measures are necessary and we understand people have their own lives to lead, we want to take this opportunity in Loneliness Awareness Week to shine a spotlight on the levels of loneliness the elderly and vulnerable live with.

“The Campaign to End Loneliness says there were 1.2million chronically lonely people in the UK before people started self-isolating due to the threat of COVID-19. Age UK says 3.6 million older people in the UK live alone, of these, more than two million are aged 75 plus. They also say loneliness can be as harmful to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It is believed it can lead to health problems including depression and dementia.

“Understandably, we all need to social distance until the Government says otherwise and we want everyone to stay safe. However, we also appreciate how difficult it can be for older people, especially those who live alone, who have had their routines and social networks interrupted, and the impact this can have on their health.

“While those that we were helping to shield during the lockdown can go out and see people now, this doesn’t mean they aren’t still going to feel isolated and lonely, as they can’t do the same sorts of activities they use to do, or have the same level of social contact and interaction.

So, we’re encouraging people to continue to keep a close eye, at a safe distance, on their elderly relatives, friends and neighbours. To check regularly on them and to call on them when appropriate, while still deploying the safe social distancing measures the Government is advising.

“We want people to remember the older generation at this unprecedented point in our world history. Anything you can do to put a smile on their faces will be a big help during these worrying times. Remember, always to keep two metres away from anyone who is not a member of your own household, wash your hands regularly, wash them well and, also, keep wiping down surfaces.

“Our carers ensure our service users see a friendly face daily, but many others don’t have this, so we’re urging people to step-up their contact with the elderly members of their community, but doing it, clearly, at a safe social distance.”

HomeLife delivers personalised home care supporting people wishing to stay living safely and comfortably in their own homes in Devon.

It aims to combat social isolation and as part of its services, it provides personality matches when pairing up its carers with service users.

If carers and service users have similar interests they will be paired up, giving the elderly people someone they can trust and get on with on a daily basis.

Katie adds: “We are continuously working to battle social isolation. We believe providing emotional care is just as important as the physical and we are doing our upmost to make sure our service users don’t feel lonely or isolated at this time or any time.

“We’re currently looking for more staff to help ensure service users are kept happy and physically and emotionally well at home. If you are fit and well and want to make a substantial difference to people’s lives at this acute time, we can train you quickly and enable you to help those who are vulnerable, who may not see a person other than their carer from one day to the next. We really need your help to add to the frontline workforce and ensure that the elderly in particular have help.

“Anyone interested should get in touch with us. Our office team will be able to have a chat with you and they will be able to set up interviews via Skype or Facetime to talk you through everything. The Government has also taken steps to ensure a quicker turnaround on DBS checks, so we can get people into work more quickly than before.

“We will be able to provide our free, full training on a fast-track basis to make sure everyone we take on is ready. New recruits are given free uniforms, access to national staff discount scheme for all major brands as well as 28 days paid holiday, paid travel between calls and paid mileage.”

For more information about HomeLife, please visit https://www.homelifecarers.co.uk.

 

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