Category Archives: Health & Wellbeing

Changes in Government guidance for those who are shielding

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Yestercached.imagescaler.hbpl.co.uk/resize/scaleWidth...day the government outlined some upcoming changes for people who are shielding.  This is for those people who have been contacted by the NHS or Government to say they are at high risk (extremely clinically vulnerable) from coronavirus, and advised to stay home and shield.

The advice will change (in England) from July 6th and after that date the changes are

  • you can meet with 1 other household if you live alone or you’re a single parent who lives alone with your children – this is called a support bubble
  • you can meet outside with people you do not live with, in groups of up to 6 – as long as you stay 2 metres away from each other
  • you do not need to try to stay 2 metres away from people you live with

From 1 August the government will be advising that shielding will be paused. From this date, the government is advising you to adopt strict social distancing rather than full shielding measures. Strict social distancing means you may wish to go out to more places and see more people but you should take particular care to minimise contact with others outside your household or support bubble. In practice this means that from 1 August:

  • you can go outside to buy food, to places of worship and for exercise but you should maintain strict social distancing
  • you should remain cautious as you are still at risk of severe illness if you catch coronavirus, so the advice is to stay at home where possible and, if you do go out, follow strict social distancing
  • you can go to work, if you cannot work from home, as long as the business is COVID-safe
  • children who are clinically extremely vulnerable can return to their education settings if they are eligible and in line with their peers. Where possible children should practise frequent hand washing and social distancing

After 1 August, the centrally provided support – ie government food boxes etc will stop, however local council and some nhs volunteer support is likely to continue, at least for a while.  We will be keeping an eye on the situation so that we can advise you on the support (including support from Caring Together) available locally

Information is available on gov.uk  and on the nhs website

Please note: this advice is from July 6 and it is recommended you follow the current advice till then. This advice is as follows:

  • only leave your home to spend time outdoors, for example to go for a walk
  • stay at least 2 metres (3 steps) away from other people in your home as much as possible
  • get food and medicine delivered and left outside your door – ask friends and family to help or register to get coronavirus support on GOV.UKif you need it
  • prepare a hospital bag, including a list of the medicines you’re taking, in case you need to go into hospital
  • wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
  • make sure anyone who comes into your home washes their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds
  • use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
  • clean objects and surfaces you touch often (such as door handles, kettles and phones) using your regular cleaning products
  • clean a shared bathroom each time you use it, for example by wiping the surfaces you have touched
  • Do Not have visitors inside your home, including friends and family, unless they’re providing essential care
  • Do Not stop taking any prescription medicines without speaking to your doctor

 

 

What would it take for your city to delight you?

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As we emerge from lockdown, what do we want from our city? Do we want to return to ‘business as usual’ or is this an opportunity to think differently and create  the kind of place where we really want to live and where everyone  flourish?

This question will be explored in a partnership between two cities, Liverpool and Leeds. Each city will host one conversation, with a panel of speakers to explore the topic. There will be opportunities for participants to ask questions and raise issues with the panelists.

The Leeds event will take place on Saturday 27th June and includes the four speakers below

If you want to take part in either of the  the events you can book your free place below to join the conversation.

Liverpool Saturday 20th June – 7pm

Leeds Saturday 27th June – 7pm

Engage Liverpool are also going to live-stream it on Facebook and then post it to their YouTube channel.

Whether or not you would like to join the live events, they would still like to hear what you think. Please do get in touch using the survey linked below.

Share your thoughts here…

The organisers had this to say in their press release:

“For an hour on Saturday evening from 7pm on the 20th and 27th June, we’ll hear stories and ideas from each city in turn, looking at exciting and delightful grassroots projects that add significant value to their communities and the city at large.

Over the series we’ll talk about how we scale these ideas and the role of active citizens within them. But we’ll also have space to talk about things that don’t exist yet, but we wish did, and ask what are the areas of the city that we wish would delight us and how we might get there. We’ll hear a broad range of ideas from each city and various communities within them that will spark discussion and ideas.

Each session will be chaired by representatives of both cities and we will draw threads for the things we have in common, and the things that make our cities uniquely delightful.

We will, of course, talk about the Pandemic we’re all facing and what we’re learning during it and what effect it is having on our cities. Are there any new things that are happening right now that we want to carry forward with us into our post pandemic cities? Do we want to go back to business as usual? Are our city leaders aware of these things?

We are building a community of enquiry around this question. We want the challenge of our city leaders and our citizens to go beyond a merely functional city, although we want that too, to how can cities inspire and delight the people that live in them and what role will we all play in this?”

 

Poetry Corner take 2: ‘Imagine’ by Lemn Sissay

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Dear all

Caring Together is also proud to be supporting Refugee Week this week too. I was chatting to Karen this morning who let me know Refugee Week 2020 this year is inspired by the theme ‘Imagine’.

The week is about inviting you to do one or more of their eight Simple Acts that can all be done at home. It can be chatting together as Karen and I have done this morning, or read a book, watch some talks on YouTube. It is a collective movement to imagine a better world.

I found this small yet moving poem on the below website.

“The poet Lemn Sissay once described his wonderment at the thought that everything around us was imagined first. Everything physical – the camera he was looking at, the microphone he was talking into – started as an act of imagination. He wrote a poem”:

I will not limit myself
I will not be afraid
If it were not imagined
How else could it be made?

sourced: https://refugeeweek.org.uk/simple-acts/

final-refugee-week-leeds-1 – Copy

Thank you for sharing your inspiring thoughts and words of wisdom this morning Karen.

The Refugee Week Logo | Refugee Week

Poetry Corner: My Lockdown poem – written by Luke Hazelgrave

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We are proud to be supporting Learning Disability Week this week. It is a great way to raise awareness of learning disability across Leeds and the UK
Leeds Learning Disability Week logo - Connect in the North
Luke Hazelgrave who lives at Parkwood View in Specialised Supported Living Service has written a lockdown poem. Luke originally recorded himself reading the poem which he then shared to try and keep spirits up.
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I’ve written a poem about lockdown; a strange time for my generation.

It helps me express myself in this current situation.

I understand that lockdown is to keep me safe and sound,

But it makes me sad that I can’t have my family around.

The virus still scares me but I think I’ve been quite brave.

I like clapping for the NHS when having a shower, and having a good old wave.

I miss their smiling faces now that staff are wearing masks,

I’ve been kept busy by helping with household tasks.

I’m really missing sports but most of all rugby,

I’m really missing cuddles

Now that people can’t hug me.

I can’t wait to leave the house, further than the front door.

I can’t wait to go out to dance on the dance floor.

I really miss my family and I really miss my friends.

I can’t wait until this lockdown finally ends.

The lockdown is something I’ll remember forever.

We’ve all been so strong, let’s get through this together!

Luke Hazelgrave

Healthwatch Leeds Survey on Shielding

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Since the start of the pandemic, many people in Leeds have been advised to “shield” to keep themselves as safe as possible. Healthwatch Leeds would like people to let them know how this has been for them and what can be done to help them over the coming weeks.

Healthwatch would be grateful if people who have been shielding could complete their survey so they can feed back people’s experiences and help shape the city’s response to coronavirus in Leeds. You can find the survey here

If you’d like more information about shielding, please see the link at the end of the survey. If you know someone who is shielding and would like to take part in this but cannot complete it online, they are welcome to call the Healthwatch team on 0113 898 0035 to talk through the questions.

Your Healthwatch Leeds

‘Support Bubbles’ – Government Guidance from today

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New Government guidance means that from today (Saturday 13th June) people who live alone can form a “support bubble” with one other household. Those in the support bubble can spend time with each other inside the home and do not have to remain 2m apart.
Your support bubble should only be with one other household and you should not change who is in your bubble or have close contact with anyone else you do not live with.
If you or someone in your support bubble is showing coronavirus symptoms, everyone in your support bubble should stay home and self isolate.
https://www.gov.uk/…/meeting-people-from-outside-your-house…

The easing of restrictions includes healthy people aged 70 or over but the advice for those aged 70 and over continues to be that they should take particular care to minimise contact with others outside their household.

If you are classed as extremely vulnerable then the guidance for you has not changed and it is recommended that you continue to shield.
It is still against the law to have visits from or visit the home of anyone who is not part of your household or‘support bubble’.

You can still meet outdoors with up to 6 people providing you maintain social distancing rules and keep 2 metres apart.
https://www.gov.uk/…/meeting-people-from-outside-your-house…

The Government advice continues to be that the best way to keep yourself and others safe is to stay home as much as possible

Snapshot in Time: ‘Knitting things Together’ – Volunteers Week in Woodhouse, Little London and parts of City Centre

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Dear all,

This week was volunteers week. And at Caring Together we celebrate this event every year for volunteers and helpers. We recognise everyone’s offers of help and supportive gestures in whatever way it is given, this can even be from our regular dedicated volunteers, to ad hoc offers of help from members, and their family and friends and our supporters too. It all matters a great deal.

Over the last year your acts of kindness have benefited so many. From regular befriending visits, phone calls, letters to helping in groups, money box making and counting, sharing musical talents and written creativity, tending to the allotment, baking and making things, passing on and sharing skills together, tombollas, Unity day, Little London Community Day, helping at other events, day trips and outings, catering, fundraising, marketing, trustees, delivering our newsletters and so on. Phew!

And the lockdown did not squash your thoughtfulness, it just meant for some it shifted slightly for which we are truly grateful. To you and the countless others in the community who have, and continue to give so much, we say a huge thank you to you all.

On a final note we did have something special planned this year with it being our ’25th Year’ yet this will have to wait. We can still celebrate together the amazing support of all our Caring Together’s volunteers and helpers, past and present. And everyone else in the community doing their bit.

Members and volunteers from the Univeristy of Leeds enjoying a sing a long last year before the lockdown

Homemade Marmalade sitting alongside our second batch of homemade Jam

Volunteers at Unity Day last year – huge team effort


Our newsletter ready for our team of volunteers


Pat and Joyce helping in the office prior to the lockdown. And one of our volunteers bringing the newsletter together just recently in the sun. Myrna is also making use of some of the home made jam and marmalade. She is baking buns and cakes which she will be distributing to her neighbours. Some of whom work in the NHS and some are shielding.

 


This is our 2nd homemade fruit cake


Helping to do a bit of shopping


Music Creations and Singing together with student volunteers just before the lockdown


Crochet and Sewing Skills Share – this was a team effort, just before the lockdown, led by Felina, Viv and Sylvia who kindly helped a group of us rekindle chrochet skills and for some learn how to crochet. I recently picked up one of the blankets from Felina who lovingly finished it off. We made two blankets. The one Felina is holding was for one of our members in the next picture.

.Happy 90th Birthday Clarita for this weekend. She was thrilled with her gift, yet not so much with my singing and birthday jig….

Thank you to you all for ‘Caring Together’

Bringing a little of the great outdoors into your home

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BBC Countryfile  are offering virtual escapes to the magical landscapes and extraordinary wildlife of Britain’s 15 national parks, from the mountains of Snowdonia and the coastline of Pembrokeshire to the lakes of Loch Lomond and the hills of the Yorkshire Dales
So sit back and relax from the comfort of your home and get your fix of the great outdoors even if you can’t physically be
there with a virtual tour:
https://www.countryfile.com/…/virtual-escapes-britains-inc…/

Discover the magical landscapes and extraordinary wildlife of Britain’s 15 national parks, from the mountains of Snowdonia and the coastline of Pembrokeshire to the lakes of Loch Lomond and the hills of the Yorkshire Dales

Lockdown Leeds

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A few pictures from my solitary early morning walks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the bird at Leeds Dock might be a heron? But ornithology is not my strong point so I’d welcome correction.

Slightly worried about the swan as it’s mate was nowhere to be seen and it seemed to be calling.

It’s very peaceful walking in Leeds at the moment – hardly a soul to be seen in the early morning and nature is abundant with less people and traffic around.  I do hope we are out of lockdown soon but a part of me will miss the solitude.

Valerie – Caring Together