‘I like to be out among the people, along with all the other tenants’

Gail Majella Heaney (53), from Lurgan, has been living in a supported living scheme run by Leonard Cheshire for the past two months. Affected by MS and asthma, she uses a wheelchair full-time and has many days when she is unable to leave her bed.

“I’ve had MS for about 17 years. The first symptoms were when I got pins and needles in my head and then I fell down the stairs in a block of flats where I used to live,” she says.

At times when she is unable to leave her bed, she sees very few people.

“I see the staff all the time and they are very good. But I like to be out among the people, along with the other tenants,” says Gail Majella (above).

“When I’m able to get out of bed I get up into the wheelchair and go out and mix with the others. But if I’m not able to get up I’m not able to go out and I wouldn’t be mixing with others at all.

“I just have to wait for the staff to come to see me. I’ll be waiting on staff to call. I get support if it’s needed, but if I’m in bed it’s harder to do support there.

“If I’m in bed, I read and I would listen to music — anything from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s — I love music.”

Like many people who are isolated, the daily structure is one way of coping.

Gail says that when she is confined to bed, her days are defined by the tablets she takes.

Much of her time is taken up with preparing her medication for the week ahead.

“Tablets are the big things — I take an awful lot of medication,” she explains.

But life is much better when she is able to get up and mix with the other tenants.

“If I’m fit to get up, I do a bit of travelling round the home and see the other tenants. I brush the floor and all — I keep the place clean,” she says.

❝ I put a letter into the lady who lives next door to me — I feel like I am delivering the post

Now, even on good days, those social contacts are starting to dwindle, thanks to social distancing.

“I don’t like being on my own — I’m a chatterbox. I put a letter into the lady who lives next door to me — I feel like I am delivering the post,” Gail says.

Leonard Cheshire service manager Anita Scullion says social distancing restrictions will hit service users like Gail hard.

“Tenants most likely will mix in their own flats, but it’s about how we keep the engagement with the outside world for them,” Anita says.

“Our tenants are among the most vulnerable and we need to keep morale high — this is a very troubled time for everybody.”