Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 96

FASHION HEALTH & BEAUTY

Be a good neighbour
The nights are rapidly drawing in,
and winter will soon be upon us. So it
is important to be a good neighbour
to any elderly people who may live
nearby.
The Age Concern Isle of Wight Good
Neighbour Scheme provides just that
opportunity to anyone who wants to
volunteer to help the elderly. It is a
voluntary scheme where local residents
assist their older neighbours in times
of genuine need when they have no
family or friends to turn to for help.
The scheme is funded by Lloyds TSB
Foundations and Comic Relief.
Mark O'Sullivan, development
officer for Good Neighbour Scheme,
Age Concern, Isle of Wight, said: “Last
summer we set up three pilot areas in

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Brading, Lake and Sandown where the
scheme is now running successfully
with the help of about 45 volunteers.
In April w e launched further schemes
in Ryde and Newport.
“Now Age Concern, Isle of Wight
would like to bring this voluntary
scheme to more areas. Initially to start
a new scheme we need to recruit at
least 15 volunteers as research in other
places has shown this is a minimum
requirement for a healthy scheme.
As soon as we are ready to launch
the scheme we advertise it locally
by putting up posters in the area
advertising the dedicated Age Concern
contact number. Calls to this number
are taken by staff members.
“Volunteers contact us offering
their services and
are then invited
to our office for a
short face to face
interview. They
then undergo an
enhanced police
CRB check.
“During the
interview volunteers
are asked what tasks
they feel happy
and confident to

carry out, when during the week they
are free and how much spare time
they have for volunteering. There
is absolutely no pressure for any
volunteer to do anything they don’t
want to do.”
Volunteers might help with
transport, light shopping, small
tasks around the home, prescription
collection, dog-walking, letter-writing,
light gardening or just paying a social
visit. Requests for help also range
include one-off service like changing
a light bulb. Tasks are allocated in
rotation to spread the workload. If
the scheme is unable to help a client
for any reason, Age Concern staff will
always advise the best course of action
and will support the client to achieve
satisfaction.
Mike added: “We support our
volunteers by holding monthly coffee
mornings and bi-monthly lunches
around the island. In addition to
these events we recognise the need
for individual clusters of Good
Neighbours to meet every other month
to discuss their own scheme, invite
other local interested people or maybe
to organise fundraising activities social
events etc. So there is a good social
side to being on the scheme.”