Ore Advice Support Information Service
46 - 48 Chiltern Drive, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3PZ
Tel : 01424 448 141
email: oasis@orevalley.co.uk
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The Ore Valley website is provided and maintained by
Ore Advice Support Information Service 46 - 48 Chiltern Drive, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3PZ Tel : 01424 448 141 email: oasis@orevalley.co.uk |
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Final Report Final Report - 4th April 03 Upon taking up the post I set upon the task of familiarising myself with the Information Technology which had advanced since I had completed my computer studies at Hastings College some years ago. I received in-house training to update my knowledge and be made aware of new computer packages, which would aid my methods of recording, evaluating information, showing results in graphical form and gathering statistics. The Scheme has to date recruited 7 new volunteers; this will enable us to deliver the client led service that had been envisaged in the proposal document to each area of the Ore valley. I have designed a questionnaire, which volunteers used to promote the service by door to door canvassing in each area. We believe the face-to-face contact is so important in disseminating information, gathering client’s individual needs and gaining knowledge of the composition of the resident demographics. The volunteers, the Oasis Co-ordinator and myself introduced the scheme in a friendly and informative way, which was appreciated by the residents that we met. Residents have also realised that even if they don’t need us at this present time we are only at the end of the telephone and very willing to help. I feel that the scheme is proving itself to be a benefit to the area it serves and in my estimation possibly saved some lives. I will summarise some case histories - I was signposted to a lady by a resident who came across the lady trying to get to the local shop and was experiencing difficulty and in some distress. She wasn’t an elderly lady and it was quite obvious to the resident that something was wrong, she was helped to the shop and taken home, The ladies son lived with her but was away from home for the week due to other family commitments. I was phoned the next day for assistance and I immediately contacted the lady concerned. When I called to visit her, her son was now home and invited me in to mums bedroom to see her, I was very concerned when I saw how poorly she looked, there was a very sickly smell, I was told mum was a diabetic. The lady could hardly talk above a whisper when I spoke to her, I urged her son to phone for a doctor whist still respecting his privacy. When I left he contacted the doctor, gave the phone to mum who cried down the phone and insisted that they attend, the doctor arrived and within twenty minutes mum was rushed into hospital. Her son informed me she had been near to death and had to have a blood transfusion, she had a very serious kidney infection and the diabetes was out of control, which resulted in her being in hospital for five weeks. The day she was due home from hospital I called at her flat, I was met by a very happy young man with a smile from ear to ear and was delighted to see what he had done for mum’s homecoming. The house was absolutely gleaming; he had done the washing and ironing and had made a cottage pie, which he proudly produced, for me to see. Mrs Ws son said he had never seen his mum look so well for many years and was glad to have his mum back to her old self, which he had been denied for such a long time. He informed me that she had a new zest for life, had made a friend in the hospital who she had arranged to go to Bingo with and thanked me for urging him to get the doctor or maybe mum wouldn’t be here today, it was a very gratifying day. Another scenario was an elderly gentleman, Mr H who was referred to us by a neighbour that was calling on him as she was concerned that another resident was charging him £10 a time for shopping - be it a newspaper and tin of carrots or a weeks shopping, the charge was £10. He was just grateful to have the items as he had difficulty walking long distances, and had not been outside for a long journey for 15 years. I called to inform him of our service, and stressed that it was free, he loved to chat about his life experiences and his family who lived up north. During one visit in which I mentioned his hands which were looking quite sore, he informed me he was still doing his own hand washing, wrapping socks round the tap to wring them out as he had lost strength in the hands and wrists and had dermatitis. I asked if he possibly had funds to buy a second had washing machine to relieve the skin condition. After thought the next day he said he would like to buy himself a new washing machine as he had not had anything new like that before and that he could do with a fridge as he had experienced tummy upsets and his fridge ice-box was not working. On inspection of the fridge I could see that the fridge was ineffective with black mould around the door, the tiny freezer box had no door and a pack of sausages in the freezer box were only half frozen, there not being room for the whole pack, food poisoning came to mind with this old and vulnerable chap. There is a local minibus service that offers trips to a local retail park so we arranged a trip for him. He could not walk long distances so I hired a wheelchair from the Red Cross and helped him into the minibus. He informed me that he had not been out properly in 15 years and gave a running account of streets as we passed them that he remembered and jobs he had around the town in the past. We spent time inspecting various washing machines, ensuring he could turn the knobs with his weakened wrists and see the letters clearly. Fridge freezers were inspected to ensure that the trays had see through fronts so he could see what food was contained in each basket without having to keep pulling them out each time. It was decided that he used the fridge more frequently so to prevent less bending it seemed sensible to purchase an item with the fridge on top with freezer below. He ended the trip by purchasing a fridge freezer, a microwave and a washing machine. Next we took him into a supermarket which he marvelled at and exclaimed “ I think I have been living in the past, haven’t I? I had no idea all this existed” Last week the neighbour called on him to see if he needed anything, Mr H was lying on the floor looking really ill, an ambulance was called and Mr H was taken to hospital. He was resuscitated several times on the way there and had suffered a heart attack; we attended the hospital about an hour later and met our volunteer there who had stayed with Mr H to give him support. Mr H improved over the next few days and was visited by volunteers, neighbours and myself regularly as his nearest relative an elderly sister lived in the North. Sadly Mr H took a turn for the worse and died on 31st March. I did manage to contact his sister and was able to send her some lovely photographs of her brother, the care providers were doing the funeral arrangements, we supported his sister by keeping in touch by phone and offering any support needed if she was able to attend her brothers funeral, she was overwhelmed by our friendliness and the service we provided to her late brother and thanked us immensely His sister and niece, her husband and her son managed travel down for the funeral and his friends and neighbours were all able to say goodbye. We also have another elderly gentleman that we are befriending that we used to shop for everyday, he had a fall at home one evening and was in distress and called lifeline. I called on him the next day and contacted his doctor as he requested me to and asked on his behalf for a risk assessment to be done for him as he really was struggling to get by. This was done about a week later, but he then took poorly and was admitted to hospital where he remained for about six weeks, his home conditions were very poor even though financially he was comfortable, simply because of mobility problems couldn’t look after himself at present, he has gone into respite care for a couple of weeks and he will then be returning home. 1066 approached us to see if we can help with any cleaning of his home before his return from hospital we will continue to support him with any tasks when he comes home and social services will monitor his capabilities of living alone. He has now returned home and as a result of leaving our leaflets at the local “Conquest hospital” his Social Worker has telephoned to ask for this extra support to continue and requested that we accompany him to a new flat in a sheltered block to give him support to decide whether to accept the flat. Several of the residents that are being befriended have also attended the Over 50s Christmas lunch (which was funded by Hastings Community Chest Fund) which was held at a local public house, in which we managed to gain use of the Surestart Minibus which has full disabled access including a hydraulic lift, this was a good opportunity for the residents to have personal contact and relieve their isolation. From over 50’s requests we took them to Holiday on Ice at Brighton, (funded from Hastings Community Chest Fund) the show was grand and enjoyed, disabled facilities good as we were able to arrange one lady in a wheelchair to sit in the front of the first row to ensure she had a good view of the show. The day had an extra talking point when the snow came tumbling down on the way. A good number had also attended the over 50s meeting to discuss their ideas for summer activities which has resulted in trips starting at the end of June this summer to Canterbury, Hever Castle, Kent & East Sussex Railway & Batemans (with coaches for trips coming from Hastings Borough Council Community Transport) along with a 6 week Chair exercises course (funded from Hastings Community Chest Fund & and Hastings Borough Council - Community Initiative Fund) a “Batch of Baking days” - where the older residents pass on their cooking skills to the young people living in the Ore valley area (funded from Hastings Community Chest). Some of the residents had not been out for many years and thoroughly enjoyed themselves and will be encouraged to come to other activities to ensure they become part of society once more. These are just a few scenarios that the Scheme has encountered; service providers working in the Ore Valley and the rest of Hastings have met it with enthusiasm. The Broomgrove Housing Officer of 1066 Housing Association - which is the largest social landlord in Hastings - reported that the residents of Broomgrove thought it was a really good scheme, they were aware of where to find us and had confidence in the service to use us, she had referred several residents to the Scheme which is a good demonstration of joint working and a marvellous endorsement of our service to the local residents. Although the pilot project hasn’t finished I will be leaving on the 4th April. As the Befriending Organiser I have thoroughly enjoyed the post and wish the service every success for the future. I have come to the conclusion though that five hours a day isn’t enough time to deal with the workload and for any future organiser a full time post would be required, especially as the client list grows daily. The pilot project has only touched the tip of the iceberg and in my opinion it has been very cost effective in comparison to the price it would have cost for some of these residents to end up in hospital, care homes and rest homes. The Befriending Scheme has brought a lot of happiness to vulnerable residents in the Ore valley. Patricia Sula Befriending organiser Jackie Gaunt Co-ordinator Oasis 20th June 2003 |