CARE & REPAIR E-NEWSLETTER January-March 2015.

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1 CARE & REPAIR E-NEWSLETTER January-March Claire Bellis & John O Mahony Regional Development Managers A very warm welcome to the Care and Repair programme s first 2015 newsletter. As ever, the aim of the e-newsletter is to inform, enlighten and amuse. We want to share information about the programme and give an idea of what s happening around the country. Most of all, we d like to encourage contributions from those involved in the programme such as Community Partners, volunteers and clients. If you have any news to share, please let us know! Contact Details: Claire Bellis Phone: [email protected] John O Mahony Phone: [email protected]

2 How are we doing? We ve all been working hard to provide a great quality Care and Repair service to older people in our local communities. In 2014, we provided 24,635 services for older people nationwide. Of these, our wonderful Community Partners completed just over 15,000. The numbers speak for themselves, but here s what one client- Sheila in South Dublin- told us Anyone else would have charged and made big work of it and more important I would have been afraid, instead of confident and happy as I was with your people. Between property tax and tiny pension etc., I find it all so difficult. Other times there will be costs I know but when it's all so honest and safe and reasonable, nobody minds. Again, feel so safe now, can't thank you enough, Sheila Age Action Care and Repair Teams In Cork the Care & Repair service is as busy as ever. We find that it s the small jobs that can make the biggest difference for older people. Many of our clients call back and tell us how delighted they were when our volunteers helped them with tasks as simple as changing a light bulb. Often they tell us that they thought the job was too small to call us about and that it was only when they called for something else that they realised we would be happy to do these little things as well. In Galway the Care & Repair volunteer team deserve a special mention. Since before Christmas, the Care & Repair van has been off the road because we are waiting for new staff to start work. The volunteer team have taken on all of the jobs that have come in throughout the city and are continuing to keep the service running. One lady was particularly happy with the Computer Service volunteers who called to her to reconnect her printer that had stopped working. This is just another string in the bow of our fantastic Galway Care & Repair team. Care and Repair in Dublin has been saying goodbye to several members of the team and welcoming in new faces. John Sullivan has left the Administration team (so please send Claire your community partner statistics for the time being!) Long -term Maintenance van team members John Lafferty and Peter Lynch came to the end of their CE places with Age Action- they will be sorely missed, especially by the clients who so enjoyed their company. We ve welcomed Philip Buggle and Linda Lyons into the Admin team, and Christian Wöbs, Derek Byrne and Trevor Allen into the

3 Maintenance van team. They re already making a flying start, getting to know the clients and finding their way around the city! Nationwide News There s been a lot of C&R activity nationwide since the last newsletter- here is a brief roundup of news. Please don t forget- if there is anything you would like to share in these pages, to pass it on to Claire or John. And if you have photos, the more the merrier! Care & Repair Benefitting Island Community Bere Island sits off the South-West coast of Cork and has had its own Care and Repair team since The service is run in partnership with Bere Island Project Group through and is a vital for support to isolated older people who remain on the Island. The Care & Repair team live on the island themselves and the clients know the team as neighbours and friends in this tight-knit community. Tim Hanley is the Coordinator of the programme and says Some examples of jobs done recently include making safe an entrance to an elderly farmers property which was waterlogged, clearing a blocked drain and putting down shale. One client was particularly happy with a job that was done to wash down and repaint a room after smoke damage from a badly fitted fireplace. A builder was recommended to repair the fireplace and the Care & Repair team took over to fix up the room so that the client could feel at home again. These jobs are vital. The trust the team have with the older residents and is hugely important. There is a significant cost saving for the clients because it is very expensive to bring in tradesmen from the mainland. said Mr. Hanley Care & Repair can serve large urban centres or isolated rural areas. Bere Island Care & Repair is an excellent example of how a service covering a small population base can make a real difference in the community. To contact Bere Island Care & Repair call Before and After; Smoke damage in a client s sitting room was repaired by the Bere Island Care & Repair team.

4 Satisfied Clients in Ballina Peter Hopkins, the administrator of the Care and Repair Service in Ballina, Co Mayo, writes: Eileen Whirley (pictured below) lives alone, and needed the step going into her house to be adjusted to help her access her house more comfortably. Two of the Care and Repair team that had experience in this work carried out the job for which she was truly delighted with as it was job she had wanted to get done for a while. Eileen Whirley of Ballina with Kevin Gallagher from the local C&R team. You may already know areas in Ballina suffered flood damage in One of our regular Care and Repair service users was one of those people living in a flood area. She had contacted us at a time when the River Moy had started to flood the area. One of the men on the service did manage to source sandbags for her and get them delivered to her house. He installed the sandbags for her and this did prevent her garage attached to her house from getting flooded. The woman in question was so delighted with the help that we have since heard she went to organisations such as the local Council informing them that without the Care and Repair Service her house and garage could have suffered severe flood damage. The woman speaks so positively about the programme every time we have contact with her she expresses her gratitude as she trusts the service so much and feels she can rely on the service when she needs help. Another user of the service lives in the locality and again is a regular user of the service. A woman who lives on her own and needs small one off jobs done complete from time to time that she is no longer able to do herself. The surrounds of her house was covered with leaves and she was afraid she would slip on them as she entered and exited her house. She often told us it is so hard to get work men to do small jobs as they are all interested in the big jobs so the service is invaluable to her

5 as she knows there is no job too small for the Care and Repair Programme. The woman using the service feels very comfortable with the people working on the programme and she often asks them for advice on jobs she may need to get done by people outside the Care and Repair Service. Peter works at the Moy Valley Resource Centre in Ballina, Co Mayo. You can contact him on Welcome to C&R in Westport One of the newest members of the Care and Repair family is the Westport Family and Community Resource Centre. The service is up and running from March, and is looked after by Gary Moogan. Gary can be reached on Working in conjunction with volunteers from Westport Men s Shed, the Care and Repair team has had a busy start to March. Here s just one story. Westport Volunteers Denny Connelly and Padraic Feehan. Spot Croagh Patrick in the background! Gary said, This is a gardening job and clear out of a polytunnel that we completed over three visits, for a man who is a wheelchair user. Looking out at his garden, that he was so proud of only a few years ago was getting him down. The lads really enjoyed doing this one to help out this individual; he has had some serious bad luck over the last few years. Boost to Drogheda C&R Drogheda Care and Repair is hosted by the Senior Citizens Interest Group, and received a real boost this month. Photo-Me is marking the installation of its 1,000th Revolution self-service launderette in Drogheda with a promise to help older people who need its services most. The company has partnered with Drogheda Senior Citizens Interest Group to provide free laundry services to older groups for a year by using the facility. The

6 launch, which took place in Tesco Drogheda, marks the installation of the company s 1,000th Revolution launderette in Europe. We are delighted that the 1,000th Revolution machine is being launched in Ireland. Photo-Me has big plans for our Irish operation this year and we hope to substantially increase our presence here, said Richard French, country manager with Photo-Me Ireland. Photo-Me is also delighted to be able to contribute to the communities where we have a presence. We hope that providing free laundry services for a year to the elderly through Age Action Ireland will benefit people who may be experiencing fuel poverty and who need this service. Kath Briggs from added: We re delighted to be involved with this project as it will make life easier for many of our clients. We are very grateful to Photo-Me for their kind offer. Kath Briggs, Secretary of Drogheda Senior Citizens Interest Group and Francoise Coutaz-Replan, Chief Financial Manager, Photo-Me at the launch. News from Around Age Action Robin s Retiring Robin Webster addressed his last general staff meeting as CEO of Age Action on March 18 th. Robin has been CEO since Age Action s establishment in 1992, and regaled the meeting with stories from the early days before handing the baton to new CEO Eamon Timmins. Robin has been a staunch ally of the Care and Repair programme and it is sad to see his departure. We ll all miss him. Robin Webster, who will retire from Age Action at Easter.

7 Fundraising Trek Would you like a walking holiday to THE ISLANDS OF SARDINIA AND CORSICA IN ITALY & FRANCE 1st to 8th October 2015 and raise much needed funds for Age Action at the same time? We need a group of 25 likeminded people to raise 2,900 each in an all-inclusive package to cover flights, accommodation, meals and transfers Contact Daragh at [email protected] or for more information For all the details please click here DCU researches access to home-based dementia services Are you, or is someone you care for, living at home with a diagnosis of Dementia or Alzheimer s disease and not currently receiving any paid/hse funded professional support? Researchers in DCU are investigating how and when people with dementia and their families access information about professional dementia-specific services and supports while living at home with dementia. If you would be interested in speaking to us, please contact Dr. Louise Hopper; telephone or [email protected] Actifcare is funded under Grant Agreement No. JPND/2013/2. JPND is the largest global research initiative aimed at tackling the challenge of neurogenerative diseases. JPND aims to increase co-ordinated investment between participating countries in research aimed at finding causes, developing cures, and identifying appropriate ways to care for those with neurodegenerative diseases Ethical approval Research Ethics Committees in Dublin City University, the Irish College of General Practitioners, St. Patrick s University Hospital, The Adelaide and Meath Hospital (Tallaght), Connolly Hospital, and the HSE North-East have approved this research. If you have additional questions, please contact: Dr. Louise Hopper, School of Nursing and Human Sciences, Dublin City University [email protected]

8 And finally Although St Patrick s Day has been and gone, this was too good not to share