INTOUCH - a New Service for Older People

HELP AT LAST FOR ELSIE AND BILL

Elsie, aged 72, living alone, has a nasty fall at home. She is really shaken, worried about continuing to live alone, and scared of falling again. She has no broken bones, but her confidence is shattered. She stops going out, and starts to lose weight.

Bill, aged 81, loses his wife to Alzheimer’s and watches her slip away from him, over 16 long years, until her eventual death of pneumonia. He is one of the old school and does not admit how frightened and lost he feels. He soldiers on in quiet desperation, left with his loneliness and grief. He is not physically ill, but he is suffering none the less.

Neither of these people is getting support from any statutory service, so they can easily just slip through the net, unnoticed. They don’t need a social worker, but they do need real, practical help.

It is for people like Elsie and Bill that Age Concern Hertfordshire has launched INTOUCH, a new countywide telephone support service available to people aged 50 and over.

Trudie Harrington (pictured right), the Age Concern Hertfordshire Team Leader responsible for InTouch. says “This is a wonderful project which will support up to 1,900 people in the first year, and I am very excited to be part of it.”

The service is telephone based, but it is very different from a volunteer phoning for a friendly social chat. Bodies such as Hertfordshire County Council's Adult Care Services, or the Falls Prevention Scheme can refer people, as can GPs and voluntary organisations concerned about someone. It may be that a victim support officer feels an older person who has been robbed or mugged would benefit from this kind of help.

InTouch gives non-medical specialist support which is vital to health and well being for older people. This new telephone service calls on people at a time convenient to the individual. Staff and volunteers are trained to be sensitive to the vulnerability of clients and know what questions to ask to gain a real understanding of the situation they face.

Pauline Pickering, Area Manager of the Older People and Physically Disabled Team for Dacorum, Watford and Three Rivers added, “Hertfordshire County Council's Adult Care Services is pleased to support this project which will help people to continue to live independently. Links between Age Concern Hertfordshire and Adult Care Services are very strong and good communication will improve quality of life for older adults in Hertfordshire.”

THINK!.... Do YOU know someone who could benefit from this service but might not know about it?
Perhaps a neighbour, friend or member of your family?

If so, or for more information, get in touch with "INTOUCH" now on:

01992 629358 or 01992 634964

Alternatively, take this link for more information about InTouch

InTouch is just one of a wide range of services offered by Age Concern Hertfordshire. Find our more by visiting their website

Could YOU support the work of Age Concern in Hertfordshire?

_{Age Concern Hertfordshire is a Registered Charity No. 1116662}

This article was created on Wednesday, 3rd March 2010. It was last tinkered with on Thursday, 22nd April 2010.

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