Neil Laminman, director on North Lincolnshire Council's senior management team, has issued the following statement in which he asks town and parish councils, like ours in Brigg, to help identify needy people.
The context here is the fact that many people across North Lincolnshire, who are normally self-reliant and not in any way dependent on adult social care or similar support services, now find them themselves isolated and vulnerable as a result of the heavy snowfall and extremely low temperatures.
We have arrangements in place to support those elderly and vulnerable people who are already in the care system and who are known to us. What we do not have, however, is very much information about those other elderly people who, because of the extreme weather conditions, have very quickly become housebound and without what they really need for effective day to day living.
We are now trying to identify who these people are, where they are, and then provide through volunteers co-ordinated by the council a helping hand where it is most needed.
We are calling this initiative 'Helping Hands' and are managing it as a development of the council's HomeLink service. We started it this morning and the contact details are shown below - ie 01724 296838. It forms part of how we set ourselves up to help lead on community recovery following emergencies or other severe occurrences of this nature.
The reason that we are contacting you now is to ask for town and parish councils to assist us in identifying those people in your communities who need an offer of help and support. We feel that members of local councils will be aware of people who fall into this category, and that will be a big help to us.
If you do know of people in your communities who are isolated and vulnerable because of the weather conditions, it would be greatly appreciated if you could telephone through to our helpline, which we are staffing between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm.
Council lends a helping hand
Do you or does somebody you know urgently need help to cope with the problems caused by the bad weather?
You might have been caught out by the bad weather, housebound, have difficulty walking to the shops or getting about generally.
If so, the council's HomeLink service is putting together a team of volunteers to lend a helping hand where it is most needed.
Starting from Tuesday 7 December, until further notice, we're making it possible for people to contact us where a helping hand will make a difference.
The number is 01724 296838 and will be open to callers from 10am to 4pm on weekdays.
Once we establish what help is needed and where, we will then find a volunteer on our list who is available to safely make the visit.
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3 comments:
Can anyone help please. I am the Estate Manager of Ancholme Mews, a development of apartments for retired people. My residents are all capable of independent living but cannot do any shopping themselves because they cannot access the main shops because of the condition of the pathways on Cross Street. The roads are clearing but are not safe for people to walk down and the paths are solid ice under the snow.
Alan,
I'm free tomorrow - give me time and place.
Cheers, Ken
Luv to Wendy xx
Many thanks for the offer Ken but I think it would be a tad to far for us to dig out. I will however congratulate who ever arrived and cleared the Cross Street footpath from the dentists on Bigby Street to The Red Cross on Wrawby Street. I did make one telephone call to the Helping Hands number and approximately 1 hour later the snow was cleared.
Many thanks for the snow clearance and I was also told if any of my residents still had difficulty getting to the main shops they could provide a man with a van who would carry out their shopping needs for them. Well worth a ring if you are worried or concerned about things.
Their number again is 01724 296838.
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