How you can help tackle loneliness for the elderly by wearing your slippers on Friday

AUKCAP is a local independent charity that is a go-to service for support, information, advice and for services to maintain independent living at home and wellbeing in later life for older people.

They expanded their vital services between March and June to meet the extra demand created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Opening hours were increased with their helpline service dealing with 4315 emails and calls and a Covid response service was set up to help with shopping, prescriptions and volunteer telephone calls to reduce isolation.

This response service is currently helping 137 older people to receive at least one wellbeing phone call each week and often these calls take place more than once in that time.

They have also supported 213 older people via the Covid shopping service.

One of AUKCAP’s dedicated volunteers is Katrina De Souza from Hampton.

She began volunteering with AUKCAP at the end of last year and is currently linked up with an elderly man and women and speaks to both on a weekly basis, alongside fetching shopping if required, as both are on the shielding list.

She said: “It’s horrifying to think you might be the only person they speak to in a week.

“People shouldn’t underestimate the impact one conversation can have; you could change someone’s entire world.

“I would definitely recommend it to people, it’s nice and easy, very rewarding and it is an important service as demand has risen massively during the pandemic.

AUKCAP have supported over 26,000 older people in Cambridge and Peterborough in some way in the last year but rely solely on donations to fund their work.

Their main fundraiser is the ‘Slip into Slippers’ campaign. Usually people are encouraged to wear their slippers at work but this year, they are encouraging people, more than ever, to share their pictures via Twitter, tagging @AgeUKCAP and using the hashtags #slipintoslippers, #reduceloneliness.

The £1 donated will then help the charity and its army of 500+ volunteers engage with the local community and make links so that individuals can take part in social activities, meet other people, develop and sustain friendships.

This will contribute to reducing the impacts of loneliness and social isolation that have been made more severe by the pandemic.

AUKCAP Chief Executive, Melanie Wicklen said: “The Covid-19 outbreak has truly impacted older people, often those most in need, in such a wide variety of ways.

“One of our primary tasks is to combat isolation and loneliness amongst our communities.

“In recent months, this has been a tough challenge, but we have risen to it. We have quickly adapted how we operate and support those who benefit from our services and will continue to do so as we all find our “new normal” to serve the community as the world around us evolves.

“However, we need to fundraise to make this happen, which is why our Slip into Slippers October campaign is so important.

“Our committed local volunteers have been paramount in enabling us to continue to support our communities. Their resilience and ability to adapt during these difficult times has been fantastic. “While it is disappointing that we have had to pause a number of our services that are face to face, such as Sharing Time, our Befriending Service, Day Services and Friendship Clubs, our volunteers have adapted and used the phone to maintain contact and strengthen relationships often going above and beyond their remits by assisting with shopping and other errands.

“At the beginning of August, we started to resume face to face contact, making doorstep and garden visits, which has been greatly welcomed by our service users, volunteers and staff.”

For more information on ‘Slip into slippers 2020’ click here.