Guest blog by Contact the Elderly
Contact the Elderly
LINK has declared a state-of-emergency as the number of
socially isolated older people in Brent reaches breaking point.
Spurred
by concern over the speed at which the government is tackling the
problem of a million neglected older people in the UK who are off the
radar, and the rate at which these numbers are growing, the charity is
taking the issue into its own hands as it heads into its 50th year.
Supported
by a network of volunteers across England, Scotland and Wales, Contact
the Elderly offers a vital lifeline of friendship to those aged 75 and
over, who live alone. The charity’s monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties
in Brent enable older people to receive much-needed human contact.
Now
the charity is calling for more volunteers to get involved to host a
tea party in their home once a year or to drive older guests to and from
the parties once a month.
A new study conducted by independent
research agency Qa Research reveals that almost one in five (19%) of the
older people Contact the Elderly supports joined the charity because
they rarely saw another person.
With almost 50 years’ experience,
Contact the Elderly knows that the solution to loneliness can be as
simple as a regular face-to-face chat over a cup of tea. Some 78 per
cent of the older people surveyed feel less lonely as a result of the
monthly tea parties. A total of 96% said the tea parties give them
something to look forward to.
Local group coordinator Elaine
Smith from Wembley says, “We offer a vital lifeline of friendship to
some of the loneliest people in Brent. By its nature, social isolation
often means that the loneliest people are the hardest to reach. By
spreading the word we can encourage more local people to give up just
two hours a month as a driver, or a few hours a year as a host.”
With
the survey identifying key loneliness triggers as marital bereavement
(22%) and lack of mobility (51%); 80 per cent of guests said they felt
happier after joining one of the charity’s groups.
Contact the
Elderly Founder and Chairman, Trevor Lyttleton MBE, says “Loneliness
amongst older people has reached a state of emergency and must not be
ignored. For almost 50 years we have been focussing on providing a
cost-effective solution, yet the demand for our service has never been
so high.
“We know our formula of tea and conversation works, but
we simply cannot reach out to the people that desperately need our help
without increased volunteers and funding.”
If you want to
volunteer for Contact the Elderly or join as a guest, please Contact the
Elderly’s North London Development Officer , Isabelle Wise, She can
be reached on 020 8445 1333.
#POWEROFCONTACT
To support the appeal, text POWR15 and the donation amount to 70070