Winter Campaign 2017

The Edith Ellen Foundation & The Lady Bader Ambassadors have launched their Winter Campaign 2017 – highlighting the problem of Social Isolation in our Elderly and to remind people of the dangers facing our elderly in winter #heatingOn #Care #MoreCaringApproach

To support this campaign and enable Our Befrienders to go out and support elderly people in the community please donate here – a gift of £5 can make a world of difference

Lady Bader

Lady Joan Bader was the widow of Battle of Britain flying hero Sir Douglas Bader.

She was a former Red Cross nurse who worked during World War Two and who later gave much of her time to charities, including Guide Dogs for the Blind and Riding for the Disabled and was awarded an OBE for services to disabled people.

In 1982 Lady Bader established the Bader Foundation to encourage other people who had lost their limbs to rebuild their lives.

Lady Bader's Legacy is of a very special significance, because of the relevance to her own journey through various unsuitable care home systems towards the end of her life.

Had she been able to have the opportunity for your companionship and a caring listening ear, she would not have been so lonely or so bored, and would have had

someone outside of her family to turn to for trust and for confidence and understanding when she had her feelings of sadness and being isolated within care.

This also stand true now for so many of the Veterans still in the care systems, and why more of our current military personnel are needed to volunteer their dedication to the needs for our former servicemen and women.

Research shows that loneliness can contribute to serious mental and physical health problems, which require costly health and social care interventions.

Studies on interventions that reduce loneliness has found that they result in:

·         Lower use of medication,

·         Fewer GP visits,

·         Lower incidence of falls

·         Reduced risk factors for long term care

·         Fewer days in hospital, physician visits and outpatient appointments

·         Fewer admissions to nursing homes and later admission

With the detrimental impact of loneliness on health The Lady Bader Ambassadors is a vital resource for understanding the picture of loneliness and service provision aimed at commissioners, service providers, clinical commissioning groups, public health teams and anyone interested in addressing loneliness in their community.

We are asking today, to support the Prevention of Loneliness Campaign by providing much needed funds.

Lady Bader, 17 March 1918 – 18 December 2015

 

The importance of tackling loneliness and social isolation

Matthew Henry

The importance of tackling loneliness and social isolation

An ageing and more transient population, and changes to the way we make social connections, are responsible for more lonely people than ever before.  Loneliness and social isolation can affect everyone older people are particularly vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness owing to loss of friends and family, mobility or income.  

According to the Office of Nation Statistics “Rates of chronic loneliness have remained steady since the 1940’s, with 6-13% of people over the age of 65 reporting they feel lonely ‘all or most of the time’.”  People from all age groups who report bad health are more likely to be socially isolated, and are more than 2.5 times more likely to report feeling lonely than those reporting good health.  However, this figure is likely to increase due to demographic developments such as Family dispersal and the ageing population.

Jo Cox MP for Batley & Spen (who was brutally murdered in June 2016) was an advocate for better service to tackle loneliness, she partnered with over 10 charities to expose evidence of loneliness across the UK.  Following her death MP’s and Friends have pledge to continue Jo Cox's campaign to tackle loneliness.

In March 2017, The Edith Ellen Foundation relaunched their Befriending Service, through the Legacy of Lady Bader (widow of the WW2 hero Sir Douglas Bader) – renamed Lady Bader Ambassadors in a bid to tackle Social Isolation in Care Homes and the Community.  The Lady Bader Ambassadors are a team of volunteers who enable those they befriend to rejoin groups of interest, provide a listening ear or reconnect to services and offer vital companionship and emotional support.  One-to-one befriending has been shown to reduce loneliness and has a modest but significant effect on depressive symptoms. Such regular one-to-one contact is particularly welcomed by people who are frail and housebound

As the UK’s population rapidly ages, the issue of acute loneliness and social isolation is one of the biggest challenges facing our society – and it must be addressed, for the sake of both the individuals concerned and the wider community. Health issues arising from loneliness and isolation add pressure on statutory health and social care services. By intervening in this issue, we can improve older people’s quality of life, while limiting dependence on more costly services.

In addition, in the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.

Tackling loneliness and Social Isolation amongst our ageing population is challenge we cannot ignore – both at an individual level and as a wider community.

This will help to improve older people’s quality of life and reduce their reliance on more costly health and social care services.