Rebuilding lives
When people face a crisis, we’re on hand to help. And our clients tell us that, in 2006, our independent living services – including care in the home, medical equipment loan, transport, therapeutic massage and skin camouflage – made a big difference to their day-to-day lives. We were also contracted to deliver medical equipment like wheelchairs and walking aids to elderly and disabled people in five parts of England.
It has been a productive year for partnerships. Working alongside Help the Aged and Community Service Volunteers (CSV), we launched a research report that demonstrated how volunteers help to break down social isolation among vulnerable people. And, joined by the RNID and RNIB, we are contributing to a Department of Health project aimed at transforming community equipment and wheelchair services, improving accessibility for service users.
Someone to depend on
Pensioner Frances Iredale appreciates how useful the Red Cross’ care in the home service can be – she was helped by it twice within a few months.
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| Following an operation on her wrist, Frances (pictured right) was regularly visited by a Red Cross volunteer who collected her shopping and provided extra support around the house until she’d recovered.
Months later, after a second spell in hospital, Frances knew just who to turn to. On her suggestion, the nurses contacted the Red Cross again.
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She said: “The same volunteer came back to help me and was such a tremendous boost, not only in a practical way but also because I knew there was someone there if I needed them.”
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