* Lynda Colwell, Chief Officer of Conwy and Denbighshire Care & Repair, with Chair Clifton Robinson. Picture by Mandy Jones
An agency celebrating 10 years of life-changing success has secured £4.6 million worth of repairs and home improvements for vulnerable people.
The news was revealed at the annual meeting of Conwy and Denbighshire Care & Repair which serves a vast area, stretching from Llangollen to Llanfairfechan.
Over the past decade the charity, a subsidiary of the Grŵp Cynefin housing association, has helped nearly 50,000 people aged 60 or over in privately owned or rented properties.
The aim is to help them continue to live safely, warmly and independently in their own homes and over the past decade.
Since the organisation launched in 2015 it has eased the burden on the NHS by saving 16,735 hospital bed days through its Hospital to Healthier Home quick discharge service.
It’s also assisted those in need access benefits they were previously missing out on - supporting 1,741 people to increase their income by a massive £7.4 million in the last 10 years.
The agency was created 10 years ago when the care and repair service in Conwy merged with its sister organisation in Denbighshire. At the same time, Grŵp Cynefin housing association was created with the merging of Tai Clwyd and Tai Eryri, and the agency became a part of Grŵp Cynefin.
Chair Clifton Robinson, who has vast experience in senior management and leadership roles in the housing sector, was deeply proud to lead the organisation.
He said: “I have been involved in lots of different organisations over the years, but I must say I feel with Care & Repair I have saved the best until the end of my career.
“I am so incredibly proud of Care & Repair both in terms of the staff, who are just tremendous, and also of my board colleagues - they are one of the best boards I have had the privilege of working with.
“The commitment of Chief Officer Lynda Colwell and her team is second to none. Their passion, their energy is incredible, they are just an absolute joy.”
He said key to Care & Repair’s success of the last decade was its relationship with the clients it has helped, and its commitment of helping people stay in their own homes as long as possible.
“We have had clients attend our board meetings and it’s been fantastic to hear from them about the difference Care & Repair has made to their lives.
“It is absolutely vital that people can stay in their own home for as long as possible.”
Chief Officer Lynda Colwell said: “It means the world to know you’re actually doing something for the good, that you can go home and think ‘I’ve helped somebody today, I’ve changed somebody’s life, I’ve made somebody safer, I have made them warmer’.
“It’s a sense of pride as well that we have a team who all work together, that we all have the same goals and strategies and want the same outcomes.”
Ms Colwell said the need for the services that Care & Repair provide will always exist, so finding the required funding in the future to do that work was essential.
She said: “Our adaptations grants are available but there are more and more people needing them and the grant isn’t increasing by the volume of people who require our help.
“The problems are not going to go away, and it will become more of a challenge to access grants over the next 10 years.
“But our team are clued up, they are fully aware of the challenges that we face.”
The charity also acts as a vital link between vulnerable, older people and organisations which can provide financial support.
It recently stepped in to help a pensioner who was finding staying at home alone in her flat especially challenging after suffering a stroke and the sad loss of her husband.
Conwy and Denbighshire Care & Repair was first put in touch with a client after she was referred to the charity from the Stroke Rehabilitation Centre at Llandudno Hospital regarding difficulties with accessing her shower cubicle safely.
After learning that the client’s husband was a veteran, caseworker Amanda Derbyshire contacted SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, to see if they could fund bathroom improvements.
The inquiry ultimately proved successful - with SSAFA paying for the transformation of the bathroom, funding work to remove the bath and fit a modern and accessible walk-in shower.
The partnership also produced other improvements, including more accessible steps to the back garden and better access from a side door.
Ms Derbyshire said: “Care & Repair have a hospital to home service and occupational therapists based at several hospitals in North Wales can refer to Care & Repair to help speed up discharges.
“We work quite closely with stroke wards and other wards in hospitals.
“When our client came out from hospital the original referral was for an assessment for extra rails or equipment in the shower.
“She felt really unsteady after the stroke and felt the rails probably wouldn’t be enough. We referred for an occupational therapist assessment through Conwy County Borough Council because they have Disabled Facility Grants (DFG) which they use for level access showers, stairlifts, that sort of thing.”
Amanda said the work was a great example of the difference Care & Repair can make to vulnerable people’s everyday lives.
She said: “It just shows what you can do if you do come across somebody in hardship. It shows another side of the caseworker service, that we can investigate other avenues of funding as well.
“I think the client would have really struggled to maintain her independence and personal care if the funding hadn’t been found because the step into the shower was too high for her to manage and the cubicle was quite enclosed.
“I really don’t know whether she would have been able to remain where she was, the work has really made a massive difference.”
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