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Community Link Workers help over 5,000 of Sheffield’s older people

Age Concern Sheffield‘s Community Link Worker project has now come to an end having supported over 5,000 older people to retain or recover their independence, health and well-being.

The two-year project was one of a number being run in Sheffield as part of the city’s Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs) funded by the Department of Health.

There was no such thing as a typical case and the people we worked with and the situations they faced varied enormously but the following story gives a flavour of the work:

An 80yr old widower approached his Link Worker with a query about the exemption criteria for paying quarterly charges for City Wide Alarm services. He had heard about their Supporting Peoples Scheme and wanted to know if he qualified for exemption, which would save him some money (£39.00 per quarter). The worker made the enquiries and was able to confirm that he was eligible and that he would also be refunded any over payment he had made. She was also able to erase his deceased wife’s details from the account as this only served to upset him whenever the bill came.

While they waited for a response from Citywide Alarms, they explored how else she might be able to help the client. Conversation revealed that his wife had died from Alzheimer‘s disease 13 months earlier whilst living in a care home and he wanted to take measures to prevent any mental deterioration in himself. The worker encouraged him to enrol on a free computer course and after only a few visits his confidence began to grow. He began attending the centre outside normal times of study, using the Internet café facilities and then the drop-in centre on Friday mornings.

It became obvious that he was enjoying the social side of his visits to the centre to so the worker encouraged him to visit the Victoria Live at Home drop-in coffee morning on Wednesdays. This was an opportunity to play dominoes and cribbage with a new circle of people all over 70yrs old and he enjoyed it so much he soon signed up for the Friday lunch-club as well.

At Christmas he was persuaded to be “Father Christmas” for the junior youth club members who attend the Centre. He did an absolutely sterling job and loved every minute.

"Who‘d have thought that I‘d be doing all this at my age, you’ve given me a new lease o‘ life and I thank you lass, it was the best thing I did when I came through those doors"

For further information about POPPs nationally please see the Department of Health‘s website at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/Olderpeople/PartnershipsforOlderPeopleProjects/index.htm

ACS
16/09/2008