Five Bullet Friday (February 8, 2019)

I met with Linda Shields this week who is part of a team of dedicated volunteers starting a new unique opportunity for anyone who is feeling isolated, alone, experience issues with disability or dementia. I have attached a photo of their flyer.

OCN has already connected with and involve people from the Bridge Of Allan area, who kindly completed OCN community surveys for us. Bridge of Allan was identified as an area of interest by OCN to be included in our pilot. I have been meaning to get in touch and I was really glad I did. Many aspects of OCN’s approach and model dovetails well with Teas Company. I’m looking forward to OCN collaborating and supporting. I’ll be contacting OCN volunteers and Strand leads interested in attending a follow up meeting to explore how we can collaborate with and support Teas Company to develop ideas using our four main strands. There will also be all the connecting and linking I can provide as Integration and Inclusion Coordinator which is naturally occurring more and more as the community work continues.

Teas Company
Opening Monday 4 March
2:00 –m 4:00
Honeyman Hall
Bridge of Allan Parish Church
All Welcome!

One aim of OCN is to look at ways of supporting the development of volunteer and community lead, local, neighbourhood clusters of support. Through our survey work, community work and collaborative working with partners we have connected with families in Plean. Relationships are developing. Connections are happening. We are hearing what is important to people at local neighbourhood level who will inform, shape and lead developments.

One example in Plean is to make use of the local community resource centre, once at the heart of the community with many activities. The idea of providing some sort of volunteer, community organised activity where people living with dementia and carers can take part in a meaningful and fun activity. One of the aims would be to give carers a short respite, while knowing those they care for are nearby and safe. Carers hear regularly how looking after themselves and self-care is important whilst caring for someone.

But how do you find the time to do this if a lot of your time is focused on caring? Could this be a model that works for people in Plean? We hope to connect with more people in Plean and hear even more feedback and ideas. Other ideas included involving the local schools in intergenerational work and William Simpson Care Home as a potential venue and or involving the people there. Thank you to those who have got involved so far.

Thank you to everyone who took part to support the relaxed consultation. We were joined by 10 participants and supported by 6 staff and volunteers. They may not read this but an especially BIG THANK YOU to the staff at Henderson’s Bistro who were very welcoming and flexible.

As well as generation new discussions and feedback round proposals for the plan there were many other positive outcomes from the get together. People made new connections. We heard of other feedback we can include in the work of OCN. We will be making follow up visits to one couples home.

People had a lot to contribute and took away stamped addressed envelopes and will send in more feedback. People from the same neighbourhoods were able to talk about possibilities for their area. This was also the start of a conversation and exploration into collaborative working with Ideas for Ears and the Forth Valley Hearing Hub. One hub member has shown an interest in joining us for a Digital Connections sessions too which is brilliant. We are really excited about the potential and collaborative possibilities. We will collect all the feedback together and submit it to the partnership consultation. We can also provide copies to everyone who got involved and include it in a future Friday update.

Kayleigh from Paths for All has been in touch to say there are just 3 spaces left for their design master class. If you have been meaning to book a space and haven’t got round to it or have just heard you should book a space as soon as possible. The details are:

‘Join us for a free masterclass with the Dementia Centre’s Annie Pollock exploring how we can make our outdoor spaces more welcoming and enjoyable for people living with dementia. Annie Pollock, Associate Consultant with the Dementia Centre, Hammond Care, is an award-winning architect and landscape architect who specialises in designing outdoor spaces for older people and people living with dementia. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.’