Monthly Archives: December 2012
Day care services for elderly ‘hit by cuts’
The number of older people using day care centres in England has fallen by nearly a quarter in three years, charity Age UK has said.
Age UK found the number using services such as lunch clubs had fallen from 88,498 in 2009-10 to 68,160 in 2011-12, and blamed councils’ funding pressures.
It warned that thousands of older people faced “the prospect of living out their last years in loneliness”.
The government said councils received sufficient funding to protect services.
The rise of the silver surfer: UK grandparents put tech on wishlist
A new survey shows that grandparents don’t want knitwear this holiday season, they want technology gifts like tablets that help them get online and keep in touch with their families.
Traditional gifts, like sweaters, socks and even books, will fail to raise a smile with the older generation this holiday season.
According to a survey of over 2000 adults conducted by YouGov for online security firm Kaspersky Lab, only 3 percent of the over-55 crowd would like socks this year and 5 percent a knit pullover, while a staggering 41 percent are holding out for a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
This is in stark contrast to the younger, traditionally tech-savvy generation who would be happy with knitwear 14 percent of UK 18-to-24-year-olds said they would like a sweater and 21 percent said they’d be happy to receive socks.
Home uses TV classic This is Your Life to help dementia sufferers
Nancy McKeever with Anne Marson, a care worker at St Andrews Care Home, Uphall. Picture Ian Rutherford
By DAWN MORRISON
Published on Thursday 27 December 2012 12:00
Dementia sufferers at a Lothians care home are reliving their memories with the help of TV classic This is Your Life.
St Andrews Court Care Home in Uphall, West Lothian, has enlisted the help of friends, family and volunteers to create versions of the big Red Book, made famous by Eamonn Andrews and Michael Aspel.
The volumes are filled with photos, stories and other memorabilia which help take residents back in time.
Creating a physical record of important moments, feelings and experiences allows residents to enjoy their memories time and again, in spite of their illness, believes care home manager Helen McLeod.
