Welcome

Hello Everyone,

I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful summer and coped with the heat if you remained here or enjoyed cooler climes if away.
I can hardly believe that Christmas is just around the corner closely followed by another New Year.
I trust those of you who attended the Volunteers Meeting in October found it interesting and informative and I hope you enjoyed the different format. The emphasis for this and for future October Volunteers Meetings will be to keep you up to date with what has been happening, and also a way to say ‘thank you’ for the effort you all put in; I hope you felt this was so. The feedback has been positive and those who participated enjoyed  being involved and sharing their experiences either as  a volunteer or a ‘receiver’  of  our services.

As I mentioned at the Volunteers meeting, the last six months has seen the committee address several issues. Our Respite Care service began in June, and is now managed by me.

The La Xara Charity shop has undergone a new structure and is now being co-ordinated by Stephen Lemon. Our second Charity shop opened in Moraira in July and Rita Greenwood recently took over as the co-ordinator.

Jill Porter-Smith has been involved with HELP for many years as co-ordinator for interpreters.  She  managed the transition when the service moved from the old Hospital at La Pedrera to its current site in La Xara, but has now decided to step down as co-ordinator although she will continue as a volunteer interpreter. Jill’s efforts over the years have been much appreciated by all who have come in to contact with her. James Hodgkinson has also stepped down as co-ordinator for the Hospital Shadows team, and this allowed the structure of our team on the Help Desk in the hospital to be reviewed.

The Interpreters and Shadows have been combined into one team which is called the Hospital Help Desk team, they are co-ordinated by Candy Wright with George Arthur as deputy – the service they provide has not changed!

Our Benitachell co-ordinator, Paul Pruden wanted to devote more time to his other interests in the U3A and with “Friends of Avinenca”, and Mary Haydon-Rowe has stepped in to the breach. Thank you both for what you have done and what I hope you will do in the future!!
The sad and unexpected loss of Pamela Kershaw in August left another care coordinator position vacant, and after some thought I am pleased to welcome Sally Atkinson on to the team as the new Teulada/Moraira co-ordinator. Sally was a trained nurse in the UK and her experience will be put to good use in the role.

Projects for next year will focus on developing the possibility of a Parkinson’s support group and Diabetes support group – as I write this article I note that a Spanish Parkinson’s support group is hoping to open somewhere in the Denia area as well. This all needs careful consideration and an understanding of what we want to achieve so that we have the involvement and commitment of relevant and appropriate professionals.

We recently identified additional space, next door to the ‘Help’ Centre which will give us good storage facilities for our oversized items such as beds, stairlifts, and hoists etc. We are also critically examining our current stock with a view to replacing some worn out and beyond repair
items by the end of the year, ensuring that when loaned out, the equipment is in good working order.

As a caring organisation, we cannot help but be touched by the economic plight that families of all nationalities are finding themselves in at the moment and it is with this in mind that the committee have decided to make a donation of food vouchers to the Social Services departments in Denia, El Vergel, Pedreguer, Javea, Benitachell, Teulada/Moraira, Benissa and Calpe.
This will allow the departments to distribute them to the most needy families and individuals in their areas, and I’m sure you agree that it will be a very worthwhile gesture and much appreciated at this time of the year. Once again we will be supporting Raquel Paya School in Denia, a school for
children with learning disabilities, to provide equipment so that the best and most appropriate aids are enabling each child to reach their full potential. Incidentally there are a number of British children attending this wonderful special school.

Pat Lee- Patton has continued encouraging and receiving donations of dried food
and tinned foodstuffs for the Caritas box situated in the Help Centre and this is
regularly passed on to Caritas where it is very gratefully accepted and as we know
desperately needed.

Catherine Perez-Pinto regularly liaises with the Sanatorium San Francisco de Borja, better know simply as ‘Fontilles’, the famous leprosy research centre. It is also a residencia for the elderly, and the home and hospital is set in the most beautiful grounds.

This year Fontilles has opened a new health facility offering short term care at the incredibly low price of €35 a day. This includes all food and medical care. Short term care can mean anything from one week to two or three months.

It is ideal for patients recovering from operations, illnesses or falls and who have nobody at home to look after them on their discharge from hospital.
It is also useful as an emergency measure while other arrangements are being put into place, especially in the case of those patients whose families live in another country or those who have no families at all.

HELP has been able to make use of this new facility on several occasions already.