Care provider urges contact through social distancing with elderly to reduce loneliness

EXETER residents are being encouraged by a care provider in the county to maintain contact through social distancing with elderly relatives, friends and neighbours to prevent loneliness following Coronavirus restrictions (May 2020).  

Guardian Homecare says many older people are becoming lonelier as they are not getting enough social interaction, and this can have a devastating impact on their physical and mental wellbeing.

Catherine Porter, Manager at Guardian Homecare, which has teams operating in Exeter and surrounding areas, says: “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, the elderly do need to self-isolate until the Government says otherwise and we want everyone to stay safely at home. However, we also appreciate how difficult it can be for older people to have their routines and social networks interrupted, and the impact this can have on their health as well.

“So, we’re encouraging the kindhearted and caring people of south Devon to keep a closer eye, at a safe distance, than normal on their elderly relatives, friends and neighbours. To check regularly on them with regards their shopping needs and to call them on the telephone more often. And if they have social media, or can use FaceTime or Skype, we would advise they employ technology to ensure they are seeing a friendly face as often as possible and aren’t getting too lonely.

“We want people not to forget 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.

“Our carers ensure our service users will still be seeing a friendly face throughout the Coronavirus crisis, but many others aren’t and we want to change 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.”

Guardian Homecare 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.

Catherine 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.”

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

“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. 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. This includes a company induction, first aid, information on dementia, health and safety, food safety, infection control, handling medication and moving and handling service users, with the opportunity to achieve Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) after the initial three months probationary period.

“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.”

Anyone wishing to help the elderly and vulnerable in south Devon during the current crisis, can sign-up be a home carer with Guardian Homecare by visiting www.guardianhomecare.co.uk or https://www.facebook.com/GuardianHomecareUK/jobs/.