Here at SCA Group we are feeling very proud to be part of a team who have worked tirelessly over the past few days in difficult conditions to ensure all those we support in our communities are safe, warm, well and looked after. We’ve heard many stories but this one in particular bought a tear to a few eyes…

One of our Care Co-ordinators, Nathan, who usually works in the office was out and about visiting customers who live near him on Thursday. One lady tried to give him some additional money to say thank you, here’s his response:

Dear Mrs Johnson,

Thank you for allowing me to come in and do your shopping today. I must say it was a real privilege, and certainly worth going out in the snow!

After telling me about your heroics, during the war, and even after, I was truly inspired. The hard work you put in played a pivotal part in the freedom that myself and millions of others enjoy and even take for granted today.

Before meeting you my heroes were footballers, however now that has changed. Today I met a true hero and I sincerely thank you. When you were showing me all the photos, it was not only interesting but inspirational.

Thanks partly to your grit and determination women in society are more than ever standing up for equality.

As for the £5 you gave me, I am returning it with this letter. In your lifetime you have given myself, and others more than enough in our freedom.

Please take care in the cold conditions.

Kind regards, 
Nathan Hoar-Smith

Needless to say we’re just as proud of Nathan as he is of our customers. Thank you Nathan. #ProudtoCare #teamwork

We’ve taken the decision not to open our day centres on Thursday 1 March 2018 due to the severity of the weather forecasts. We will be keeping in touch with everyone who usually visits a day centre on Thursday and will be offering extra support at home if it is needed. Our care staff will be ensuring all our customers still receive the care they need. Please bear with our staff as they work hard to care for everyone. If you have any concerns then please call Ricky on 07739 951 715.

Many of us, at some point in our lives, will come into contact with care services, either receiving care at home, in a day centre or in a residential setting. When we do come into contact with care services we want to be confident that we will be treated with dignity and respect.

Social Care in Action group of social enterprises is helping to make dignity in care a reality for all. We will be holding a Dignity Action Day at Fenwick Health and Wellbeing Centre in Lyndhurst on Friday 2 February 2018.

We will be throwing open the doors of Fenwick from 11am to 3pm to members of the local community, people who use our services and their carers. We have also invited children who attend Over the Rainbow (early years childcare) to participate.

A number of activities will be running across the day including: sharing information about what dignity means, creating a dignity-tree, sharing personal experiences and expectations of dignity in care. There will be a ‘dancing with dignity’ tea dance in the early afternoon. Food and refreshments will be provided free of charge throughout the day, including a donation from Budgens Supermarket in Lyndhurst.

Alison Fisher, Day Opportunities Manager at Social Care in Action Group said

‘Dignity and respect are core values here at Social Care in Action group. We are proud to support Dignity Action Day by taking the time to do something for people who often feel isolated. We hope that by inviting members of our community to join in we can strengthen relationships and reduce feelings of isolation.’

 Dignity Action Day is a national initiative led by the Dignity in Care Campaign and it’s key partners to bring staff and members of the public together to make a difference to those receiving care.

Southampton Healthy Living and Monty’s Community Hub in Sholing are joining forces to offer information, support and advice to residents around making healthier choices.

Starting on Friday, 26 January, they will be delivering a 12-week healthy living pop-up shop at the community hub on Montague Avenue in Sholing. Expert advisers will offer information, support and advice around making healthier choices including stop smoking support, weight loss information, physical activity information, conversations around alcohol consumption and mini NHS health checks. The team will be at the hub shop from 10am til 2pm every Friday for 12 weeks, until 13 April 2018.

Rev Jon Oliver, Chair of Trustees at Monty’s Community Hub, said “As a small charity rooted in our community, we’re really looking forward to working with Southampton Healthy Living to offer more for our members and neighbours. After all, we all need a little help now and then. Together with Monty’s Bike Hub, our Actively Ageing group, Curb Cafe and our summer Sports sessions – we hope this will help our community become a healthier place for everyone.” 

Monty’s Community Hub is a community-development charity and social enterprise based at the heart of the local neighbourhood – encouraging personal, social and spiritual development within the community. Monty’s growing team of local volunteers organise activities including youth clubs, community cafe, homework club, bike workshops, sports, cycling, groups for young parents, older people, and everyone in the community. 

This partnership is trialing a concept of local shop front delivery of healthy living services in innovative settings and is the start of an exploration of new ways of providing lifestyle support to communities in Southampton.

Andrew Smith, Operations Manager for Southampton Healthy Living, said “ We are really looking forward to trialling this way of working with Monty’s and providing services in Sholing. Our team will be available for brief interventions and support for individuals to make positive changes for their health. We look forward to supporting Sholing to be a healthier place to live”.

Wendy Lee, Programme Manager for Southampton Healthy Living said: “We are looking forward to welcoming many local people to our pop up between now and April. We understand the importance of a familiar and comfortable environment in which to hold conversations about healthy lifestyles, outside of traditional NHS buildings which many associate with difficult times/illness. It is hoped that this will encourage more people to seek support to help keep themselves healthy.”

Visit www.southamptonhealthyliving.org.uk for lots of information on healthy living, and to contact one of the team.

Visit https://www.montys.org.uk/ for more information about services at Monty’s.

It’s #ChristmasJumperDay here at Head Office, and we’ve worn our winter woolies and costumes in support of Save the Children.

We are still counting our grand total but all the money raised will help bring essential healthcare, education, protection and food to millions of children. Over 20 of our staff took part in the Christmas jumper competition and as you can see we had some brilliant responses. 

Congratulations to Leanne who won the competition for the best Christmas jumper.

SCA Care a not-for-profit social enterprise, part of Social Care in Action Group, understand that Christmas can be a particularly difficult time for some members of our community. We help and support individuals in their own homes throughout the year, by providing care services, or enabling them to visit people and places in their communities that they would otherwise be unable to attend.

We have invited several of the people we usually support in their own homes to come together this year, to meet others in a similar situation and to have some fun celebrating Christmas in their community.

On Tuesday 12 December our staff will be collecting people that we know would otherwise be stuck at home. We will be providing door to door service to bring them to Oak Lodge where activities and some Christmas food will be provided.

Ricky Rossiter, Head of Community Independence for Social Care in Action Group said: ‘We understand that there are many people across our communities who find Christmas a particularly lonely time of year. We work hard all year to provide opportunities for people to get out and about and to do the things that are meaningful to them. This year, we are bringing people we see individually in their own homes together, to an event that should help them feel less alone at this time of year.’

 Reablement Liaison Co-ordinator, Amelia Hodgson, who helped organise the event said: “This is a really nice event as it’s often the case that some people do not have a Christmas with family or friends, so we thought by bringing them together they will be surrounded by others at this sociable time of year.”

It is estimated that this year over half a million older people will be spending Christmas alone. By hosting a Christmas party we are hoping that we have bought joy and laughter to them over the Christmas period.

ENDS

Further information:

Social Care in Action (SCA) Group is a local not-for-profit group of charitable social enterprises working together to form one of the largest social enterprises on the South Coast of England.

SCA Care is part of the SCA Group of social enterprises. SCA’s other social enterprises provide day care, home care, support services, NHS dentistry, healthy living, wellbeing, counselling, library and community transport on a not-for-profit basis.

Media contact:

For further information, please contact Kay Mitchell on 023 8051 6039, 075 9044 5109 or email kay.mitchell@sciagroup.co.uk.

At our SCA day centres we have not only been looking at the support we offer to our members but the support we offer to carers. 1 in 8 adults (around 6.5 million people) are carers and this is estimated to increase to 9 million by 2037.

Cares Rights Day is held each year to bring organisations across the UK together to help carers know their rights and the support they are entitled to. 

Here at SCA Care our day centres have been celebrating Carers Rights Day on Friday 24 November 2017 by hosting afternoon tea for both our members and their carers. The afternoon tea brings carers together who otherwise may not have time to socialise or are unable to leave their loved one by themselves.  

Group member Alison said “the day centre really helps to give me freedom and I know that when my husband is at the day centre he is being looked after well.”

Alison attended Oak Lodge’s afternoon tea with her husband who is a member and goes three times a week.

SCA understand that carers also need support and the importance of meeting others who may understand how each other feel.  This is why we offer carers support groups which are held at our Fenwick Health and Wellbeing centre. For more information about the different types of groups we offer call Vicky on 023 8028 6342.

‘Thank you… if it wasn’t for you I may not have lived the life I have been able to live, and do all the amazing things I have done in my life.’ Audrey, 93 from Southampton.

Lovely words from one of our Southampton day centre members when asked what she would say to a military veteran.

Here at SCA we understand the importance of Remembrance Day to many of our members and staff.

It is a time to reflect and think about our service men and women who have fought for our country.  Our members and staff that come to the day centres need that time to remember their loved ones, young and old. Some of our members have served in our armed forces or were evacuated as children.  The heartache from those times can still be felt today.

Our day centres off a space for people to freely talk about their war experiences or listen to stories and join in if they wish. As part of this work we often have craft days centered around poppies as a powerful remembrance image.

The Brook Day Centre in Southampton is attended by Valerie who has close relations that were involved in both world wars. Valerie enjoyed the opportunity to share those memories this week and her husband John accompanied her to share those memories.

Valerie with medals received by her grandfather, Private John Hewer of the Royal Gloucestershire Regiment in the 1914-8 war.

Valerie and John with a photograph of Valerie’s mother and uncle. Her uncle sadly lost his life in the 1939-1945 war. Valerie and John are proud of the medals he was awarded.

June, a day centre member from Southampton, enjoyed taking part in craft activities this week and wrote a special message on her poppy:

Numbers of smokers in Southampton continues to decline to record low levels

Would you like to join them?

It’s been proved that asking for help from a specialist to stop smoking means you are four times more likely to quit for good. In 2015 just over 20% of the population in Southampton were estimated to be smokers, that figure is now nearer 18%.

Tobacco is still the number one killer in England. In Southampton in 2015/16 it is estimated that 1,886 people were admitted to hospital with a condition that was made worse because they smoke.

If you’re interested in stopping smoking then Southampton Healthy Living is here to support you.

We offer free one to one support or you can attend one of our free groups running across the Southampton area. Call us on 0300 123 3791 and talk to one of our friendly and knowledgeable trained advisors about the support that is best for you.

As the local experts we have access to the latest tools to help people stop smoking including:-

• Nicotine Replacement Therapy, which means, gum, patches, inhalers, nose sprays, lozenges, mouth sprays and micro tabs
• Stop smoking medication
• using vapes/ e-cigarettes to support you to quit smoking

Public Health England have said vaping/ e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco and here at Southampton Healthy Living we will support your switch to vaping/ e-cigarettes to help stop smoking.

Stopping smoking not only greatly improves your own health but also the health of those around you. In Southampton we still have too many children born to parents who smoke or growing up in smoking environments. We know these children can have health issues as a result of this.

We’re offering friendly and knowledgeable support to pregnant women who smoke and their partners. Call us on 0300 123 3791 for more information.

Ruth Marriott CEO of SCA- lead partner for Southampton Healthy Living said “We’re looking at the ways in which we help people to stop smoking in Southampton. By reviewing the evidence as to what helps people successfully stop smoking for good we can find ways to apply this in our city.”

Andrew Smith, Operations Manager at Solent NHS Trust, one of the Southampton Healthy Living partners said: “We know that for many smokers, quitting is one of the most difficult things to do. That is why we provide tailor made specialist support through groups and one to one support and have access to nicotine replacement therapies and access to stop smoking medication to treat the addiction to nicotine.

We recognise that the addictive nature of nicotine means that we need to support people through their cravings and recognise that smoking is often not a choice for people but a dependence.

We will never tell a smoker to stop, but as a service we will support people to quit”

Nisha Sharma, Acute Sector Specialist Behaviour Change Practitioner for Southampton Healthy Living said: “Supporting  pregnant women and their partners is key to make the best start in life for children. Pregnant smokers are more likely to have a still birth or a child that is underweight at birth which can lead to poorer health outcomes for the child.

People living with a long term health condition such as COPD can increase their health outcomes greatly and reduce their chance of hospital admissions by stopping smoking.

We know that giving up smoking is difficult but with the right support and treatment quitting can be achieved.”

Jo Ash, CEO of Southampton Voluntary Services, a Southampton Healthy Living partner said “We know that there are communities across Southampton where we have higher rates of smoking than the national average. We work with local, community organisations who understand the pressures that people face on a daily basis to support them to stop smoking. Our message is you are not alone and you can do it – let Southampton Healthy Living help you along the way.  ”

Visit www.southamptonhealthyliving.org.uk to find out more.

Macmillan Coffee Morning 2017 is the biggest fundraising event for people facing cancer. Here at SCA Group our accounts team have been busy baking cakes and organising our Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Payroll Manager Lorraine said: “I have had first-hand experience of the help Macmillan Cancer Support offer and wanted to give something back to benefit others. This is a fun and easy way to raise funds.”

With the cakes selling fast and a competition to guess the height of the cake tower won by Lynn Coe and Taylor Kill, we raised £108.50 for Macmillan Cancer support.