Curo News

Stay safe at home with Curo’s Independent Living Service

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 12:55:13 Z

Curo’s Independent Living Service is a lifeline for Keynsham resident, Wendy Gordon, and helps her to stay living safely in her own home.

The service provides an experienced and dedicated support worker to help customers with everything from applying for benefits to doing the weekly shop – and much more.

Help to stay safe at home

Through the service, Wendy's Independent Living Support Worker, Caron Mills, gives practical and emotional support to Wendy. She has helped get adaptations made to Wendy’s home, such as an accessible shower and a wider path. These small changes have made a big difference, allowing Wendy to feel safe at home.

She said: “I'm not worried about tripping, slipping and falling anymore. I’m in a home that’s equipped for my needs, which means I’ll be able to stay living here. That’s fantastic because the longer I'm here, the happier I’ll be.”

Caron is also a friendly ear for Wendy, helping her with admin tasks that she finds frustrating or overwhelming.

“I can talk to Caron and she really listens to what I'm saying,” said Wendy. “She comes up with brilliant ideas and has got me help from charities and organisations that I didn’t even know existed.”

Someone to trust

Different levels of support are personalised to the customer’s needs, from just £4.70 a week.

Wendy suffers from health problems, including a broken neck and PTSD, and has found it difficult to trust people in the past. “But Caron always has a smile,” said Wendy. “There are some people you automatically know you can rely on and Caron is one of them.”

Through the Independent Living Service, Wendy also gets an Appello alarm. This life-saving pendant alarm service is monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“It's a confidence boost,” said Wendy. “I know I only have to press the alarm and I've got support. It’s so easy to use and brings me great peace of mind.”

Caron says she gets a lot of fulfilment from helping Wendy. “If she’s having issues with family or medical practitioners, I can listen to her concerns. I check how she’s feeling and give moral support. Or, if there are practical issues around her home, I make calls to find out how we can get them sorted.”

Caron understands how important it is for people to stay living independently. “Homes contain memories. Whether that’s of children growing up or a partner who’s passed away, it's about keeping those memories alive,” she said.

“My role is so rewarding,” said Caron. “I know I make a difference.”

Contact Curo for support

If you or a loved one need support to stay living independently at home, Curo’s Independent Living Service is here to help. It can be used by anyone who needs support who is over the age of 18, if they live in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire or North Somerset.

Call Curo on 01225 366135 or email ILS@curo-group.co.uk and find out how the service can help.

Quote the discount code ILSSOC to get two weeks free of charge. This offer is valid until the end of June 2023.

Making connections in North Somerset

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 16:00:58 Z

Over recent years we have expanded our award-winning independent lives services across the North Somerset area. Today, in North Somerset, Curo colleagues are:

delivering two social prescribing services through GPs,
working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children,
providing supported housing for people facing homelessness,
offering 'step-down' accommodation for people ready to leave hospital but unable to return home, and
working with numerous community groups and organisations through our Community Connect service.

All these services have one thing in common. They all support local people and communities by working with their strengths.

At a glance: North Somerset Independent Lives services

Social Prescribing:

A social prescription offers the kind of help that doesn’t come in a tube or a bottle. Our Link Workers support GPs and their teams in surgeries to offer non-medical options to re-connect patients with their communities, and to help build resilience and support by connecting people to the things they enjoy. Referrals into this service do not need to be Curo residents. Curo's team of Link Workers provide social prescribing services to just over 96,000 patients.

We work with Mendip Vale Primary Care Network through GP surgeries in Clevedon, Weston-Super-Mare, Yatton, Langford and Congresbury.

And Gordano Valley Primary Care Network through GP surgeries in Portishead, Pill and Clevedon.

Click here to read more about the role we play in making a difference to people like Karen who told us, 'the service has been fantastic, especially during these difficult times'.

Community Connect:

Our Community Connect team also provides social prescribing across North Somerset, however referrals to this service do not need to come from a GP. Like our GP-linked social prescribing, people do not have to be Curo residents to be referred. The team works with groups in communities to find out what is happening and to link people with the activities and support that helps them feel connected to where they live. Our work in community settings mean we will meet people in groups and activities to find out more about you and the things they are passionate about. Our Community Connect Wellbeing Workers support more than 1,000 people a year in this way.

Temporary Accommodation services:

At any one time, we work with 36 people across North Somerset, with that number set to grow in the coming months. We work with people facing homelessness who are looking to find independent accommodation and need support to help them reconnect with their communities and find their home.

Independent Living Service:

This award-winning service helps people remain independent in their homes by providing the additional support and services they need as life changes. This support is built around the things that are important to our Independent Living Service customers. We sometimes find that once a person has had support from either of our free-to-access social prescribing services, they decide they want longer term support from someone who will get to know and trust them. Our Independent Living Service offers this.

If you'd like to know more about our work in North Somerset, or want to discuss how we can work together, contact Curo Service Manager Jack Bailey on Twitter @Jack_Curo or by emailing jack.bailey@curo-group.co.uk.

Homes at the Heart of living well

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 16:30:16 Z

As a housing association we’re backing the national Homes at the Heart campaign that’s appealing to Government to put housing associations like Curo at the heart of the country’s COVID-19 recovery. One important part we play is in helping local people to live well.

The COVID-19 lockdown has hit everyone hard, and for our oldest residents living in our retirement accommodation (many who’ve been shielding for months) we have been doing all we can to bring people together in different ways.

Many of our sheltered housing schemes have community rooms that serve as vibrant LiveWell Hubs, running popular events every week from Scrabble and coffee mornings to exercise classes, digital masterclasses and craft sessions.

With lockdown, events like these have had to change.

We’ve not let that stop our efforts to bring people together safely. In recent weeks we’ve organised many varied social activities. Last week, residents at our Greenacres Court Extra Care scheme in Midsomer Norton came together to celebrate the opening of a new community garden, carefully designed with raised beds, accessible pathways and a few gnomes for good measure! We've posted a few photos on our Facebook Page here:

We’re encouraging residents to join our annual Curo in Bloom competition and we’ve set the challenge to aim high with sunflower seed packs given to many of our sheltered housing customers.

In July, we hosted a series of mini music concerts performed by professional musicians Lucy Hewson and Rebecca Prosser (pictured). Residents enjoyed the tunes from their windows, doorsteps and balconies, with some bringing chairs into the shared gardens to take part and chat to neighbours safely.

“It’s amazing to see all the effort you’re putting in to getting the site back to how it was,” said Peasedown St John resident Margaret. “The music was brilliant and it's lovely to see so many interacting for once.” Read more about these doorstep concerts in this blog by Curo LiveWell Officer Michelle Nash.

We’ve also launched a pen pals initiative, linking some of our oldest and youngest residents through the lost art of letter writing.

We’re looking forward to reopening our LiveWell Hubs as soon as it’s safe. In the meantime, we’re working hard to put on more events like these, alongside our regular wellbeing calls that we make to keep in touch our sheltered housing and Independent Living Service customers.

If you’d like to know more about Homes at the Heart click here.

Christmas at our LiveWell Hubs

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 09:32:29 Z

Hats off to the fabulous Curo Livewell team who hosted a Christmas lunch and festive entertainment for some of our older residents.

More than 70 people were treated to a delicious lunch with all the trimmings, a magic show, singing, festive quiz and of course a raffle which raised over £50 - bringing to £750 the total raised by residents over the year for the RUH Children's Ward.

Curo's LiveWell team organises events throughout the year at our network of hubs - everyone's welcome. Find out more here.