Aviva Community Fund has provided £2,919 of match funding
Dementia & Carer Support: Telephone Befriending
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Improve the wellbeing of 150 people living with dementia & their carers through volunteer led telephone befriending during COVID-19 & beyond
"Thank you for phoning, it's a lifeline, it keeps us going."
Our telephone befriending service has already provided over 58,374 minutes of support to people living with dementia and their carers since the start of the pandemic. People living with dementia are more likely to have other health conditions which often place them in the high risk category for coronavirus. This means that people living with dementia and their carers face an even longer period of lockdown and isolation which can have a devastating impact on their overall wellbeing.
Age Exchange has supported people living with dementia and their carers for over 38 years through reminiscence arts and wellbeing projects. Our Caring Together Service provides opportunities for wellbeing activities, arts, socialising and peer to peer support for 150 people living with dementia and their carers through 11 different groups in Blackheath, Lambeth and Manchester.
Coronavirus Pandemic
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, we took the difficult decision to close our dementia and carer support groups as well as our hub to protect the people we support and our local community who frequently use our community hub, not for profit café and library.
Virtual Day Care Service
We remodelled our dementia and carer support services in light of the pandemic through a virtual day care service. Our Virtual Day Care Service supports 238 people living with dementia and their carers through activity boxes, movement DVDs and wellbeing phone calls to improve wellbeing and reduce feelings of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The virtual service seeks to temporarily replicate our Caring Together Service but is instead, delivered in their homes through activity boxes and DVDs posted to them, as well as support offered through telephone befriending. We will continue to provide these services for as long as the people we support need it.
Our telephone Befriending has already provided over 58,374 minutes of support
Our telephone befriending service is led by 12 fully trained volunteers and supported by Age Exchange staff. Since the start of the pandemic, the service has supported over 238 people living with dementia and their carers with over 58,374 minutes of support through telephone befriending.
This part of our service is now expanding due to a growing demand and the length of time that people living with dementia and their carers are likely to be affected by COVID-19 restrictions. The service is also looking to the future and how the friendships created can help them to transtion back into the normal world when the time comes.
The service seeks to;-
- Reduce feelings of loneliness & isolation
- Promote intergenrational understanding
- Improve the quality of life & care for people living with dementia
- Support carers to maintain their own health & wellbeing
How it works
Our Telephone Befriending volunteers call our participants or their carers from their home. We match our Telephone Befriending volunteers with our participants and or their carers according to likes/dislikes or hobbies and shared experiences.
Our Telephone Befriending volunteers have given a minimum commitment of 6 months, 3-4 hours per week from Monday to Friday during work hours. They complete a phone call sheet during the call, taking notes and recording how the person is feeling in terms of mood, length, time and date of the call. Our volunteers record any issues that need escalating to their supervisor who provide continued support to our volunteers.
The Benefits of Befriending Support
- Lower rates of depression
- Improve social skills
- Reduces social isolation
- Improves self-management
- Improves self-esteem and confidence
- Reduces vulnerability
- Builds a sense of purpose
We can only do so much alone. Please help us today to make sure that people living with dementia and their carers are not forgotten.
Thank you.
This project successfully funded on 23rd March 2021