Activities – Lifelines

As of last week, following government guidelines, Brighton Lifelines has now suspended all of our 40+ regular groups providing face to face activities to older people, across Brighton and Hove. As you may know most of those activities support older people with wellbeing activities and interest groups delivered by volunteers.

We are currently telephoning all members and volunteers across our network to ensure everyone has basic needs met and as our volunteers are trained and experienced, many will now be supported with befriending calls and some with necessary shopping.

We are trialling new interesting ways of delivering our current activities to support people over the phone and online. We will share all offers as we go for other community groups to tap into, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch on either lifelines@volunteeringmatters.org.uk or 01273 688 117.

Likewise we will reach out to get support from our partners across the city. A very big thanks to all the organisations who are supporting our communities at this time, it’s heart warming.

The Lifelines Team

Temporary break on all Groups & Activities

We have been monitoring the emerging situation regarding the coronavirus in the UK and its impact on our volunteers and members. Many of whom are older people with a higher risk for symptoms. The majority of our activities are held at senior housing venues in the city and we have today been informed by some of our partners that they are to temporarily stop all non-essential visits.

In light of this and to safeguard the wellbeing of our volunteers and members, we have decided to temporarily stop all of our groups and activities from today. We are in the process of informing all of our volunteers to arrange with the venues to put up posters explaining this decision. We will also send this information to all of our members, you can help by passing this on to anyone you know that may be attending.

The very nature of what we do is to provide social interaction to support the health and well-being of older people in our community. This can be a lifeline for some and ceasing these activities may have an impact. We are exploring ways in which we and our volunteers can continue to support our members during this time.

When the situation changes we will of course be starting up all of our activities again. In the meantime we will update you as things develop. We also provide links below to the latest government and public health advice.

If you have any questions you can contact us on 01273 688 117 or lifelines@volunteeringmatters.org.uk

Where to get up-to-date information

You can to keep yourself up to on the latest advice date by regularly checking these government and NHS websites:

nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

gov.uk/coronavirus
gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/03/04/coronavirus-covid

Some simple steps to help stay safe and prevent the risk of infection:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
• Use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser if soap and water are not available
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue then throw the tissue in a bin. (See the Catch it, Bin it, Kill it poster on Teams)
• Clean and disinfect as frequently touched objects and surfaces both at home and where you may be volunteering
• Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands

The Lifelines Team

01273 688 117

Tag: Activities

Public Statement

Coronavirus Update