Community Care Magazine for Elderly and Disabled: GAZETTE No.61SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008 Cash Machine Safety With Autumn days and a shorter number of hours of daylight be careful when using the “hole in the wall”. Choose a cash machine carefully. If any other person is behaving suspiciously around the cash machine, move away and look for another one. If the machine has any aspect that is unusual e.g. card won’t go in easily, then do not use and report problem to the bank immediately. If someone is crowding you, leave the machine and look for another one elsewhere. Put your money and your card away before leaving the machine. If your card is not returned report it immediately. Tear up or shred any receipt, mini statement or balance enquiry. It is untrue that if you enter your PIN backwards at a cash machine it will alert the Police. At all times put your personal safety first. Health on Tap Health on Tap has been launched as a result of an 18 month study by Anglian Water. A care home in Bury St Edmunds started a water club to encourage their elderly residents to drink more water a day, between 8 to 10 cups. The results of the 18 month study showed that the residents, in drinking the additional water, significantly improved their health. There was a 50% reduction in the number of falls, there were fewer urinary infections and fewer GP callouts. Recommended intake of fluids does not have to come from drinking just water, other fluids are acceptable. There is also lots of water in many foods such as fruit and soups for example, which can all come into the 8 to 10 cups per day of fluid that should be consumed. A startling statistic is that for people over the age of 60, one third of hospital admissions are people suffering from dehydration. Residents of the home, St Martin’s in Bury St Edmunds, claimed that by drinking more water they:
If you are a disabled person and are worried about your heating bills contact Home Heat Helpline on 0800 33 66 99. They can help you if you are having problems about staying warm or paying your gas and electricity bills as they can put you in touch with somebody who can help. The Helpline is staffed by experts who can also help you to find information on grants to insulate your home or install new heating. The Helpline is a free phone number and is available from 9.00am – 8.00pm Monday to Friday and 10.00am – 2.00pm on a Saturday. Age Concern Norfolk's Teleclub Age Concern's Norfolk Teleclub is looking for people who:
Age Concern Norfolk is looking for volunteers to make weekly calls to members of Age Concern's telephone based social club. It is a social club for people over the age of 65 years who are lonely and isolated. The social club has weekly quizzes with a prize, a quarterly newsletter and sends birthday and Christmas cards, or marks other important events in their member's lives. You make calls from your home but call costs are reimbursed. The above Teleclub is Norfolk based only (ring Marilyn on 01603 785 261 if you can help in Norfolk) though other Age Concerns may run similar projects throughout the country. If the above appeals to any of our readers, give your own local Age Concern a call. The Rough Guide to Accessible Britain The above is the title of a pocket sized book published by Rough Guide and the Motability Care Scheme. Its content is packed with ideas for days out across the UK. The book gives easy to understand symbols re accessible facilities at each location and handy maps to make finding the places easier. The guide costs £6.99 and you can purchase a copy from their website: Blue Badge holders pay £1.99 for postage and packing only. Disabled Driver Information Many disabled drivers find that filling up their car at petrol stations is difficult and a frustrating activity. Petrol company Total UK has produced a website to help disabled motorists find a petrol station that has a “service call” facility. In other words, someone will come and put your petrol in for you. To find out the petrol stations in your local area or to locate petrol stations that will have this facility when you are out go to website www.total.gb or you can ring their Customer Care on 08457 346 222 and get the information you need. Supermarkets are Helping Asda supermarket can help blind customers who want to read what it says on the packet or the tin. They have Braille Guns in their stores which will produce a Braille label which can then be stuck on the tin. You can either ask a member of staff to come round the store with you or if you are shopping with someone else, but will be on your own at home, you can have the Braille labels put on at the customer service desk after you have shopped. Morrisons supermarket have specially designed cutlery and crockery in their Customer Café for customers who have difficulty gripping. They will also provide menus in large print and Braille. Just ask a member of the Café staff. Slippery Paths Over half a million people injure themselves in the garden each year and many of the injuries are caused by falls on slippery paths. As a result of the wet summer, algae has been able to multiply on paths and steps and consequently the surfaces are likely to be covered with a slippery film. Whether you are fit, elderly or disabled check your paths and if they are slippery clean them with either a high pressure washer or get a cleaning product which is appropriate, it may save you from a fall. If you live near anyone who may not think or be able to clean their paths and steps, consider doing it for them as a neighbourly gesture. Unwanted furniture Many local authorities and other local organisations offer collection schemes for your unwanted furniture. The furniture is then either put to use again to help low income families, local charities or in the case of some wooden furniture can be sent for recycling. So before you throw that piece of furniture out, give your local council a ring and ask about recycling schemes. Food for Thought You are twice as likely to die in a house fire if you don't have a working smoke alarm. Nationally, around 80% of homes now own a smoke alarm but statistics show that one in every eight house fires attended by fire and rescue services, the smoke alarm failed to work, mainly due to missing or flat batteries. The message is: If you do not have smoke alarms in your homes, get some. If you do have smoke alarms, make sure you change the batteries when needed and never "borrow" the batteries for some other battery requirement. The Able Sponge Serves 8 Ingredients: 8oz self raising flour Method:
Knit a Hat A newborn baby cannot regulate its own body temperature and it loses vital heat through its head which makes it more prone to pneumonia. A disease which kills around 2 million children each year. Save the Children would like you to knit a baby a hat and they will send your hat to mothers and babies in developing countries that desperately need help. You can download a pattern by going to the Save the Children website at http://www.savethechildren.org.uk or by ringing for a copy to 020 7012 6400. The Society is aiming for 50,000 people to take part in this knit a hat scheme and as at August 2008, approx. 25,000 people were knitting the much needed hats. Do You Believe That If...
Hairy Facts It is said that the Persians defeated Alexander the Great's men because the Macedonians had beards which the Persians could grab and pull their enemies to the ground before spearing them. Around the 11th century barbers were also dentists and surgeons. It was not until 1745 that barbers were not allowed to be surgeons. The barber's pole of red and white is thought to do with the fact that barbers would perform bloodletting practices. Patients would grasp a rod so tightly that their veins would show and the barbers would cut their arms to let the blood flow. The bandages then used would be washed and hung out to dry and would twist around the pole into a spiral pattern. Hence the striped barber's pole. Thanks With apologies to "Sally" Moyo, in our "Thanks" last time we should have thanked Frida Moyo.
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