The great success of JewishCare's North Shore Links program that over the last 3 years has linked over 50 older isolated people with caring volunteers has prompted JewishCare to take the program to the Eastern Suburbs.
One of the great problems that many people face as they age is that they may become less socially active and have a tendency to become house bound. This is undesirable on many levels and has been linked to a range of physical as well as mental health problems.
The North Shore Links model is very simple. Once a fortnight or so trained volunteers pick up older members of the community who have registered in the program and take them out for have a coffee and a chat. Not only does it encourage greater community access and a sense of independence but it puts the older person in contact with someone who cares about them and someone with whom they can share their life experiences.
JewishCare's CEO Claire Vernon said "While JewishCare has always used volunteers to support the elderly at home, the outcomes from this program have been impressive by any criteria so we have decided to take a similar model to the Eastern Suburbs with the launch of the East Link program. We now encourage potential volunteers as well as service users to contact JewishCare".
If you may be interested in becoming a volunteer to visit a house bound older person on a regular basis or you know of an older person who is house bound and would benefit from being linked to such a volunteer FirstCall JewishCare on 1300 133 660 and mention East Links program.
