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Home Age Space Local Care Guides Age Space Suffolk Coronavirus: Keeping your Elderly Relatives Safe in Suffolk

Coronavirus: Keeping your Elderly Relatives Safe in Suffolk

The Coronavirus is assured to have the most impact on the elderly members of our community and you are right to be worried about accessing the support available for your parents and elderly relatives that you normally look after.

Coronavirus Support in Suffolk

Age Space has worked hard in getting the information together you need to best support those whom you look after. We have lots of comprehensive advice and information on our main website and a free Coronavirus guide for everything you need to know about the virus.

We also recognise that the majority of the support your loved ones will receive will originate locally and so we have compiled all the information about local initiatives and government support for Suffolk in one place. This page will give you all the tools you need for getting support for the people in your life who need it in Suffolk.

Where to find Coronavirus support in Suffolk

Suffolk County Council has been working hard to make information and help as accessible as possible for the people living in their county. The resources are updating everyday so here at Age Space we will just try and direct you to where to find this information in Suffolk, and the main organisations that can help you. Additionally we recommend searching for any Coronavirus support pages for your local town on Facebook that might be able to help bring supplies and ‘check in’ (following social distancing rules) on your elderly relatives if you are unable to.

Suffolk County Council

The Coronavirus page on Suffolk County Council’s website can help update you to changes in Suffolk services and direct you to more information for example on School Guidance, Business Help and staying healthy mentally. They have also set up the Collaborative Communities COVID-19 Board of local governments and services to help coordinate the response and make sure that no one is neglected.

For carers, the Adult Social Care page will be updated to inform all users of the current system about the changes that are being made to their care in response to the current situation.

Home, But Not Alone – Suffolk

The Home, But Not Alone service has been set up by the Collaborative Communities COVID-19 Board to help connect people in need with volunteers in their area. It is a freephone helpline open 7 days a week, 9am to 5pm on 0800 876 6926. This number should only be called for people who genuinely need the help and aren’t going to take up resources unnecessarily. This service could be used for help getting groceries, medication, or other essential items and will be managed according to the government’s guidelines on social distancing. This service will be accompanied by an App as well, we will will tell you about next.

Tribe Volunteer App – Suffolk

Coronavirus App

Using this mobile app, volunteers will be able to log which area they can help and what services they can provide to those who need it. Charities, town and parish councils, community and religious groups will all be able to add to the app so that all the support able to be accessed is in one place. If you need support for your elderly relative you should download the app, put in their details and see what support is available in their area.

You can download the app on Apple App Store (if you have an iPhone) and Google Play Store (for Android phones).

Community Action Suffolk

In addition to Suffolk County Council, Community Action Suffolk’s website is a great resource of information and lists of local town Facebook pages. It really helps to fill in some of the gaps in local care and support and has lots of links for Coronavirus advice.

Local Councils in Suffolk

You can find more locally-specific support and information by following the links below to be taken to your local council’s coronavirus page. You should also search for your town’s local council as many of them have Coronavirus support on their website for their constituents. You can also find good information for local charities and organisations there to help on this East Anglian Daily Times page.

Suffolk Good Neighbour Scheme

The Good Neighbour Schemes operating throughout Suffolk are doing their best to help the more isolated, needing, and vulnerable members in their communities. You find the contact details for your elderly relatives nearest scheme hub on the Community Action Suffolk website.

Our local sponsor for Suffolk and Norfolk, Ashtons Legal, have worked hard to give lots of advice concerning legal matters and how they might be affected by Coronavirus. This includes making a Will during lockdown, deferral of income tax payments and much more and can be found on Ashtons website.

Isolation Health & Wellbeing in Suffolk

One of the secondary health impacts of the Coronavirus is keeping up the mental and physical health of those undergoing strict social isolation – especially for our elderly members of our community. Keep Moving Suffolk and Healthy Suffolk have some good advice on their websites to help those staying at home.

Keep Moving Suffolk

A local government scheme, Keep Moving Suffolk has lots of tips and guidance aimed at the elderly to keep them as physically fit as possible while staying at home.

The website has video chair-workouts, NHS approved workouts, workouts targeting balance and fall prevention, and audio-guided workout routines for if you don’t want to be looking at a screen.

Keep Moving Suffolk website

Healthy Suffolk

Maintaining our mental health will be increasingly important as the ‘lockdown’ continues, and is even more important for the older members of our society who might struggle more to connect to people online.

Healthy Suffolk has lots of tips to keep healthy, including a 5 Steps to Wellbeing program, staying on top of anxiety, and lots of helpful links to national organisations for maintaining physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Healthy Suffolk’s Website

Wellbeing Suffolk

Wellbeing Suffolk is dedicated to improving the mental health of everyone in Suffolk and they have adjusted their service to be delivered online. Their latest campaign includes online video call coffee clubs, workshops, yoga and quizzes to help people of all walks of life to stay connected and social in this isolating time.

Upcoming socials can be found on the Wellbeing Website.

Staying Connected

Staying Connected in the coronavirus

Isolation can be, by its nature, a pretty lonely time for all of us, but will especially impact our elderly relatives who aren’t as tech-savvy as others. Helping them to get connected to apps and websites that will in turn connect them to their families is really important during this time – and Age Space can help!

We have worked hard to produce comprehensive guides on getting signed up to video calling applications and other great things that can entertain you online. All of these can be found in the Tech section of our website and include Skype, Whatsapp, and more.

Useful Age Space Guides