Welsh encouraged to spread festive cheer among elderly
We’re encouraging people from Wales to spread some festive cheer among any elderly and vulnerable neighbours and relatives they might have this Christmas (December, 2017).
Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of year for anyone living alone and Abacare is asking people to ensure they check on relatives and neighbours during the holidays.
Christmas is all about spending time with friends and family but there are some people out there, our service users included, that do not have many, if any, friends or family nearby.
We understand from Age UK that more than 360,000 older people have not had a conversation with friends or family for more than a week, so we’re asking anyone who knows of an elderly or vulnerable person near to them, to pay them some extra special attention during the festivities.
It could be a small gesture of popping in to say ‘hello’ and stopping for a cup of tea or perhaps taking them a box full of winter essentials. If you know of anyone who might be alone then inviting them round for Christmas lunch could really make their year.
Our carers become a much needed friendly face to our service users around Christmas time and many of them still visit them over the festive period, including on Christmas Day. We see them as extended family to the service users we care for in the community.
We wish you an Aba-Christmas – which we say is a caring Christmas. We wish to deliver care to those we look after over Christmas the way we would like to be cared for at Christmas.
We recently launched our Shoebox Appeal and are asking people to donate shoeboxes full of essentials and other bits and pieces to help brighten up a person’s day.
Any shoeboxes can be dropped off or sent to our Bangor offices at 9 Ash Court, Parc Menai, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 4DF or our Newtown offices at St Davids House, New Street, Newtown, Powys, SY16 1RB.
Boxes can also be sent or dropped off at our Ystradgynlais offices at Unit 300, Ystradgynlais Business Centre, Trawsffordd Road, Ystradgynlais, Powys, SA9 1BS and at our Rhondda Cynon Taf offices at Ty Cynon, Navigation Park, Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taf, CF45 4SN. The deadline for boxes to be sent is Friday, December 15.
We will then distribute any donations amongst its service users.
As part of our aim to combat social isolation we also 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.
We are always working to battle social isolation among our elderly and vulnerable service users. 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, especially in the winter months.
We’re all about caring here and all the caring people out there who spread festive cheer this year are just the sorts of people we’re looking for to work for us. We offer free, full training and the opportunity for career advancement. We’re also very flexible with working hours, so if anyone is interested in caring for a living, they should contact us for more information.
