Welsh encouraged to spread festive cheer among elderly
PEOPLE from Wales are being encouraged by an award-winning Welsh care provider to spread some festive cheer among any elderly and vulnerable neighbours and relatives they might have this Christmas (December, 2016).
Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of year for anyone living alone and Abacare, which provides care around the Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tyfil areas, is asking people to ensure they check on relatives and neighbours during the holidays.
Peter Angelides, CEO of Abacare, which has recently won a significant tender in the area and opened its new offices at Ty Cynon, Navigation Park, said: “Christmas is all about spending time with friends and family but there are some people out there, our service users included, that do not have many, if any, friends or family nearby so we’re asking anyone who knows of an elderly or vulnerable person near to them, to pay them some extra special attention during the festivities.
“It could be a small gesture of popping in to say ‘hello’ and stopping for a cup of tea or perhaps taking them a box full of winter essentials. If you know of anyone who might be alone then inviting them round for Christmas lunch could really make their year.
“Our carers become a much needed friendly face to our service users around Christmas time and many of them still visit them over the festive period, including on Christmas Day.”
Abacare recently launched its Shoebox Appeal and is asking people to donate shoeboxes full of essentials and other bits and pieces to help brighten up a person’s day.
Any shoeboxes can be dropped off or sent to Abacare’s offices at Ty Cynon, Navigation Park, Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taf. The deadline for boxes to be sent is Friday, December 16.
Abacare will then distribute any donations amongst its service users.
As part of its aim to combat social isolation Abacare also provides personality matches when pairing up its carers with service users.
If carers and service users have similar interests they will be paired up, giving the elderly people someone they can trust and get on with on a daily basis.
Peter added: “We are always working to battle social isolation among our elderly and vulnerable service users. Providing emotional care is just as important as the physical and we are doing our upmost to make sure our service users don’t feel lonely or isolated, especially in the winter months.
“We wish you an Aba-Christmas – which we say is a caring Christmas. We wish to deliver care to those we look after over Christmas the way we would like to be cared for at Christmas.”
Abacare operates a professional Care Management Team that is committed to providing high quality care to individuals in their own homes.
The large team of trained, specialist, care workers provide positive based outcomes and person centred care to people throughout Wales.
Abacare’s core values, instilled into every staff member, include ‘make us proud’, ‘focus on our service users’ wellbeing’, ‘communicate, listen well and speak with respect’, ‘be passionate, honest, caring and considerate’, ‘recruit and develop the very best’ and ‘lead by example’.
It is a member of the United Kingdom Homecare Association, Ceretas (formerly British Association of Domiciliary Care), The National Homecare Council and The Information Commissioners Office (Data Protection). It is also registered with the Care Social Services Inspectorate Wales.
Abacare provides induction training for the Aba-carer. This is a bespoke five day induction which Abacare use to ensure that our culture of caring is embedded into our induction and training of all carers.
Abacare has been awarded an Investors in People accolade for its staff training and development for the fourth year running.
Investors in People is a national standard, which provides a framework that helps organisations to improve performance and realise objectives through the effective management and development of their staff.
It was also named Britain’s ‘Most Outstanding Care Agency’ at the UK Over 50s Housing Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
For more information about Abacare, please call 01443 742645 or visit www.abacare.org.uk. Alternatively, please follow the company on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/Yn4zmS or on Twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/visitabacare.
