In my view Isolating to avoid Covid-19 virus is bad for you!
AGE UK recently surveyed 569 older people who were staying at home to protect themselves from Covid-19.
It showed isolating can lead to other serious problems like loss of mobility and balance as a result of moving less, plus pain increasing pain from untreated medical conditions.
The psychological impact of living with so much stress, uncertainty and isolation can have a damaging effect on your health.
Age UK in Calderdale is a locally run charity providing care and support to older members of our community.
The safety of our clients, staff and volunteers is paramount to us. During Covid-19 some services were forced to close temporarily, and others were replaced with telephone support.
As the months passed by we were faced with clients desperate to see their friends again. As a caring organisation we had to protect them from Covid-19 even though we knew their physical and mental wellbeing was deteriorating as a result of isolating.
The staff have been amazing during the pandemic. They would often take emotional calls; hearing heartbreaking pleas for things to go back to normal whilst not being able to provide any reassurance that it would.
After much consideration and many safety adaptations, we were ready to open the doors to our day care centres once again last week. I wanted to see for myself the reaction of our clients and staff as they saw each other for the first time in 13 months!
On arrival there were new signs and hand sanitising stations. I was greeted with a head thermometer and a cheeky smile from behind the mask of Helen, one of our care assistants. After donning my PPE, the social distancing floor markers and one-way systems helped to guide me through the centre.
Through the glass window I could see individual client tables, each with their own activity pack, hand sanitiser and water. An elderly lady in the corner of the room caught my eye, she was smiling and waving to me – it’s moments like this that make all the worry over the past 13 months worthwhile.
I asked one lady what a difference it has made being able to come back into the centre, she said “it means the world to me, the staff here are my friends and if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t flippin’ come anyway” I love the honesty of our older friends!
Sadly, there are still too many older people who don’t feel ready to leave the safety of their own homes, but we will continue to provide support until they are ready. Helping our older people to re-engage with society after all this time won’t happen overnight. It’s going to be a long journey for some, but we’ll be here thanks to all our supporters, staff, fundraisers and volunteers.
There is no substitute for face-to-face care, so were we right to stay closed for so long, I genuinely do think so.
* More about our journey back from Covid, coming soon to our website www.ageuk.org. uk/calderdaleandkirklees
Lisa Butland is the chief executive of Age UK Calderdale and Kirklees.
The charity provides a whole range of support and services within communities, including advice, information and general help to people aged 50 plus on everything from welfare benefits, money matters, consumer issues, leisure activities and more.
Advisers can refer and signpost older people to other appropriate services offered by Age UK Calderdale and Kirklees along with help given by other voluntary and statutory agencies.
The service is available through the Age UK offices in the Woolshops in Halifax, Huddersfield and Batley, and home visits can be arranged for people who are unable to get into the office.