Homeshare Eden launches new promotional video

With much in the news about the isolation of the elderly, Dean Raine of Homeshare Eden described in this blog last summer  (reproduced below) a unique and fascinating intergenerational project getting underway in Cumbria.

Homeshare Eden has just released a new promotional video which is worth watching more than once. As Dean says, “The more you watch it, the better it gets – exactly like the Star Wars Trilogy…”

Watch the video HERE

Homeshare is a new scheme for Eden, Cumbria. It is operated by Age UK Carlisle and Eden, receiving funding from The Housing Action Charity (HACT). The scheme is part of HACT’s Age2Age initiative which supports intergenerational projects all over England.

The concept of Homeshare is simple; older and younger people sharing a home.

The idea is that an older person gives a room in their home to a younger person in exchange for help and support around their home.

The younger person (Homesharer) agrees to give up no more than 10 hours per week to help or support the older person. This help/support can come in many different forms. For example: housework, shopping, gardening, transport, cooking, DIY or simply companionship. In exchange for this they are offered a room in the older person’s house for minimal or no rent.

The older person (Householder) benefits from this arrangement in several ways, for example: gaining a companion who can help with tasks they find difficult, accessing services locally or the peace of mind which comes from knowing they have somebody to rely upon.

The younger person (Homesharer) benefits too. For example: they gain low cost or free accommodation. They find a place to stay near their place of work or study. They are given the chance to save money as well as gain independence. Ultimately they find a new friendship.

Homesharing offers different things to different people. Householders gain the choice to stay in their own home at a time of their lives when this may be becoming difficult. Homesharers gain an inexpensive (or free) housing solution. It’s mutually beneficial and nobody should lose out or gain financially.

Homeshare is monitored by the Homeshare Co-ordinator who finds homesharers and householders and matches them together. Successful matches are based upon rapport and common values. The Co-ordinator also acts as independent counsel – offering help and solutions to problems, should they arise.

Homeshare is very much a two way relationship; both people gain equally. The householder gets the help and support they need and the homesharer finds a place to call home.

To participate in the scheme both Householder and Homesharer must be CRB checked and references are required. This ensures that the scheme is as safe as it possibly can be.

There are no specific requirements to take part in Homeshare – just an open mind and a desire to help a person who is either older or younger than you.

Homeshare schemes have operated successfully all over the world and several schemes have already taken place in England. Homeshare Eden is unique as it operates over a large rural area in Cumbria.

For more information, visit http://www.homeshare-eden-district.co.uk/

“Trip Advisor” for independent living products? Download the report

You may recall that last October I reported the launch at Naidex South by the Years Ahead Partnership and Newcastle University of a feasibility study into a scheme for rating assistive technology.

Demographic changes and pressure on public finances are leading to radical changes in the statutory provision of simple assistive technology. Simple aids for daily living – such as walking sticks, mobility aids, tools for arthritic fingers and swollen feet – are now increasingly appearing in a variety of existing and new channels. You only need to look in the small ads of the Sunday newspaper supplements.

However, there are challenges to the emerging market. Public awareness of the existence and benefits of simple living aids is low, the take up is limited by stigma and negative associations of old age and disability. And healthcare professionals are nervous about such developments – not surprisingly given the Office of Fair Trading’s recent investigation into unscrupulous traders taking advantage of ill-informed consumers.

This joint study looked into the feasibility of a consumer-led product rating system which would raise awareness, improve customer confidence, help de-stigmatise the products and offer re-assurance to professionals.

The majority of people surveyed were in favour of an online consumer rating model with a panel or accreditation system to provide further rigour. A kind of “Trip-advisor” for assistive technology and living aids.

We were one of the organisations consulted as part of the study and share Maggie Winchcombe of Years Ahead’s view that “such a scheme has a vital part to play in empowering us all as consumers of [Assistive Technology], designed to help us live our lives to the full into great old age”.

And wearing our designer hats, we believe too that such a scheme will also encourage designers, manufacturers and retailers to really focus on the consumer – and this means producing and selling products which are well designed, innovative and attractive as well as functional.

The next stage for the “Raising the Standard” team is further research and consultation about the design of the rating scheme.  We will keep you posted.

YOU CAN NOW DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE (Click on Download) 

Image  - ShowerSandal 

What to do when someone dies

A while back I was talking to a good friend about looking after older people and it occurred to me that I had no  idea what to do if the worst happened and someone died. My friend, who knows about these things, offered to jot down a few pointers. Here is what she said.

1. Directgov – One of the great things about the internet is that information is available 24 hours a day.  Directgov, the government website, has a very comprehensive list of everything you’ll need to do, from registering the death and arranging the funeral to contacting all the people you have to inform.  You can even print out a checklist.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/WhatToDoAfterADeath/DG_10029808

There’s also information on the Citizens Advice Bureau website www.adviceguide.org.uk

2.  Death Certificate – You’ll get more information when you go and register the death.  In England and Wales you’ll get a copy of the very useful booklet “What to do after a death”.  You’ll also get a chance to buy multiple copies of the death certificate – it’s cheaper to do this at the time of registering than later on.   The more complicated the financial affairs of the person who died were, the more certificates you’ll need.

3.  Make notes- As well as the check list, you’ll need somewhere to write things down.  Get a notebook and keep a list of questions as they occur to you; this will make things easier when you’re dealing with the funeral director, for example.  If lots of family members are making suggestions about the funeral write them down too so they’re not forgotten when you’re making decisions.

4.  One step at a time – Take things one step at a time.  Even if you’ve got a long list of things you need to do, don’t feel it all has to be done at once. Registering the death and arranging the funeral will be your first priorities.  Things like sorting out a will or intestacy will be important too, but they do not need to be dealt with immediately.

5. Do think about car insurance – while other financial paperwork can wait a few days, if the policy holder died you should contact the insurance company even if the person wanting to use the car was a named driver.

6. Funeral directors – Nowadays many people who are arranging a funeral will have had little experience of dealing with arrangements after a death before.  Funeral directors are used to this and are happy to guide you through the process and answer any questions.

7.  Choice – However, do remember that you don’t have to use a funeral director if you don’t want to, and if you do, you don’t have to arrange a funeral in the way that they or indeed anyone else thinks is “proper”.  As well as religious funerals you may wish to consider a humanist ceremony.  A more recent idea is the civil funeral; this is a service provided by local councils in the same way as weddings and civil partnerships.

8.   Trade associations – You should bear in mind that funeral directors are running a business and selling you a service; it’s quite all right to discuss prices or look for the best value for money, or just wish to do things simply. When choosing a funeral director, check that they belong to a trade association, such as the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) or the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF). This requires them to provide full information about their service and prices.

9.  Post - Receiving post addressed to someone who has died can be very distressing.  The Deceased Preference Service (www.deceasedpreferenceservice.co.uk) is a means by which you can alert organisations that carry out mass mailings to amend their records; this will stop most personally addressed, unsolicited mailings and help combat identity fraud. It will not apply to official communications such as tax returns, bank statements, bills or premium bonds etc. and because mailings are printed in advance it may take a month or two for them to stop completely. 

10. Think about it in advance.  No-one likes talking about death, but finding out a bit about how to deal with the practicalities and talking to your family about what you and they would like to happen can give great peace of mind at a very difficult time.  Sometimes a death is expected, but sadly it can come as a complete shock. 

One last piece of advice – back up your digital photos! We all value our memories of family members or friends, and photographs are for most of us a vital part of that.  Many people now only have digital photographs stored on a computer, but those of us who use computers all the time but don’t upload every photo we take onto Facebook can be very vulnerable.  Laptops can be stolen, desktop computers can break down leaving data unrecoverable and there are sad cases where people who are bereaved also lose all their digital photographs.  Think about getting some photos printed out or upload them to an online storage website like Photobox or Snapfish.

Image – Living Memorial Stone by Craig Barrow

Three ways to engage older people with social media

I have come across three projects recently which set out to engage older people with this new thing called social media.

Last week I wrote about Diane Atkinson’s SKYPE project which aims to introduce older internet newbies to the possibilities of communicating wth relatives and friends using SKYPE.

One of the entries to the “Designing for the Future” competition with the University of Brighton last summer was student Jono Redden’s project called “Pets“.  Jono was exploring the idea of loneliness amongst older people. “Pets” are are lighting fixtures designed to evoke the shapes of domestic pets such as cats. They are connected to the internet and in particular social media sites and as the number of friends who come online increases, the brighter the light shines reminding users of a world (albeit virtual) outside the isolation of their own home.  This was the first time I have seen the virtual online world made manifest in this way.  A really interesting idea.

This week I was contacted by the people behind Hugmail, a new app and online service specifically created to help make it easier for different family generations to keep in touch. 

Aran Potkin of Hugmail explains that : “Driven by the knowledge that 40% of grandparents live over an hour away from their grandchildren, many struggle to see their family as often as they would like. A lot of grandparents and older relatives also miss out on a lot of family news and photos because they don’t own smartphones and aren’t on Facebook or email. 

That’s why we created Hugmail – the message service that turns digital photos stored on your mobile, Facebook or computer and sends them as postcards anywhere in the world for £1.49.” 

As a product Hugmail is not so different from online greeting card retailers such as Moonpig but it is unique in focussing on the older market and in particular, the challenge of keeping families connected where not everyone is online. I do like the postcard format – there’s something very cheering about receiving a postcard and many are artworks in their own right. And it is a very quick and simple way to keep in touch.

 It does strike me, however, that the older person need not always be the recipient. An increasing number of older people are online (see our Facebook page). And I think Hugmail would also be a great way for grandparents to keep in touch with their grandchildren by sending them postcards, maybe as reminders of the days out they have shared, which would be lovely keepsakes for those children as they get older.

The Jigsaw Club – older people doing it for themselves

Readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of Eve, my friend now in her 90s, who is tackling getting older with considerable aplomb.

This week I learnt of her latest project. Eve was speaking to a friend who runs a charity shop which had a great many donated jigsaws. Whilst the jigsaws were popular, the volunteers simply did not have time to check that all the pieces of each puzzle were in the box so the jigsaws often languished in the stock room.

Up steps Eve who suggests that she could get together a group of friends who would happily check and complete the jigsaws so as to enable them to be sold.  And so the Jigsaw Club was born.

Once a week Eve and her friends get together over a cup of tea and do jigsaws -  not only does it help the charity, the activity, as Eve says ”keeps both brain and fingers moving”.

What a lovely idea  – and a win, win for everyone involved.

Introducing older people to the wonders of SKYPE

Just before Christmas I heard of an interesting project to demonstrate the benefits of SKYPE  to residents of local retirement homes.

As Diane Atkinson of Cressida (www.cressidasolutions.com) explains: “ We take our laptops into local retirement homes to show the residents how wonderful SKYPE  is.  We do all the hard work, the retired person just sits in front of the laptop at the appointed time, they do not touch the laptop, they do not need to learn how to use it, we do it all and they just sit and talk to relatives and friends anywhere in the world. 

We have such fun practising with them, having them SKYPE other residents in different rooms and pretending they are in Australia (last time we did it, as well as discussing the weather in Australia, the talk was about Barbies and mankinis!!)  It is such a laugh.

We know from experience that elderly people love talking to their relatives and seeing them on screen is such a treat for them. Certainly with grandchildren, it’s probably the only way they will communicate! 

It is also easier for relatives and friends far away to see their loved ones.  Perhaps due to work commitments or family they cannot visit every week, so this is a way for them to see their loved ones and by seeing them can detect things that cannot be seen speaking over a phone line.” 

The project is not without its challenges, however, Diane has told me that it can be difficult to get hold of the details (email addresses/SKYPE name/phone numbers) of the relatives far away, who would benefit from this service. Also with the time difference, there are three different time slots, mornings to speak to Australians etc, evenings to speak to UK/European working people and Sunday afternoons to speak with Americans etc.. 

I think this is a really worthwhile project. Most retirement homes have someone who comes in every week to help residents use their own computer; this is a service for those who do not own a computer and have no wish to learn how to use one, but are able to video link with their relatives and friends.  Not only are older people being encouraged to use technology and get on line, but most importantly it sounds like good fun for everyone involved.

For more information about SKYPE, CLICK HERE

Bringing childhood memories to life with Spoken Memoirs

Last year I wrote about Lewes-based Sarah Hitchings and her business, Spoken Memoirs which records personal life histories using high quality digital equipment to create a broadcast quality CD.

This Christmas I finally got to see an example of Sarah’s work with the publication of my father’s childhood memories covering the years between 1941 and 1954.

In addtion to two CDs of Sarah’s interview with my father, there is also a written transcipt illustrated with some precious family photographs.

Whilst none of the material is new to me, many of the stories having been told to us throughout our lives, it is fascinating to read them all together as one narrative.  The verbatim quotes in the transcript also capture my father’s voice perfectly.

The finished result is an extraordinary record for the family to keep for future generations. How amazing to be able to read the words and hear the voice of one’s ancestor!

There are many ways of capturing and storing memories via digital archives and social media but Spoken Memoirs make the whole process really easy and by using taped interviews, ensure that the final memoir is as coherent and comprehensive as possible.

For more information about Spoken Memoirs, visit  www.spokenmemoirs.co.uk

12 gifts ideas to help someone make a fresh start in 2012

Our fantastic  Move It or Lose It! chair-based exercise DVD has been featured on the It’s in the Stars blog as a great gift idea to help someone make a fresh start this year.

“12. If your parents or grandparents have become less mobile or a loved one is temporarily incapacitated, help them get fitter with the Move It or Lose It DVD of chair-based exercise.”

To see the post in full, visit http://www.itsinthestarsonline.com/12-gifts-to-help-someone-make-a-fresh-start-in-2012/

A chilling story about unscrupulous companies preying on older people

I heard a worrying story today about unscrupulous companies preying on vulnerable older people.

My friend, a lady in her 90s, received a phone call from someone wanting to visit her to discuss a “change in terms for her care alarm”. She agreed a time but feeling a little uneasy asked her daughter to be present.

At the appointed time, a tall man arrived and asked first to use the toilet which was slightly odd. Then he came into the sitting room and asked if he might have a cup of tea. At this point, my friend’s daughter was getting rather suspicious and started quizzing him about the company he represented. It transpired that he did not work for the company which supplied my friend’s current care alarm but a rival company and he was there to persuade her to switch contracts.

Feeling not a little discomforted, my friend’s daughter asked the salesman to leave.

My friend’s daughter has notified the appropriate authorities but the damage is done.  Both my friend and her daughter have been shaken by this whole espisode.

What struck me was that this is not a dramatic tale in that (fortunately) nothing was stolen and no-one was attacked.  But these sort of insidious and underhand sales tactics can badly undermine a person’s confidence and there is something so cynical about directing them at our vulnerable older people who are often too polite to say no.

iHUS – an instant granny annex

Need extra space for a carer, a granny annex or simply just a downstairs bathroom or wetroom but can’t face the upheaval of re-configuring your home or building an extension? At Naidex South this year, I came upon a solution – the pre-fabricated iHUS.  

By chance, Grand Designs on Channel 4 last night was all about pre-fabs. Kevin McCloud went to visit Alan Dawson who had built much of his house in his workshop before transporting it to site.   

The iHus follows similar principles to the Grand Designs pre-fab but is much quicker to build. The whole unit is put together in the factory and then simply winched into place. I am told that standard installation time including groundworks is just 2 weeks. 

An iHUS can be of any size, with a range of different bespoke finishing touches, inside and out, and with as little or as many rooms as are needed.  The units can be manufactured  to any finish and specificaiton, from roofing styles to the number of plug sockets. And most importantly the exterior can be finished to match your home. 

Planning permission is usually required. 

When you want to move, you can either leave the iHUS in place (it is an accredited extension that exceeds British Standards) or take it with you. 

iHUS was founded by Trevor Smeaton and Mark Smith who believe they have found a gap in the market by combining high quality accommodation for older and disabled people with an innovative approach which enables families to stay together comfortably. They work with a team of occupational therapists and design and adaptations experts to make sure they understand the needs of their customers – not many builders do that!

I think the iHUS is a great idea with huge potential and could be the solution for lots of hard pressed families wondering how they are going to cope with multi-generational caring.

For an example of how installation of an iHUS has worked for one family and some more photos, read Chantal and Chris’ story here:http://www.ihusaccess.com/chantal-and-chris-say-thank-you-ihus

For more information, visit www.ihusaccess.com