Health and Social Care (Community Solutions)

Averting a Crisis

Glenboig Development Trust diverts a crisis

The Trust is also the host organisation for Health and Social Care (Community Solutions) in the Coatbridge locality and an identified North Lanarkshire Council Community Hub throughout the pandemic.

Glenboig Development Trust has been working hard to mitigate the negative effects the pandemic is having on its community.They place a particular emphasis on working with those whose voices are seldom heard.

The Trust has rapidly expanded its services across Glenboig and the surrounding villages of Greenfoot, Ramoan, Annathill and Marnoch to provide services and support to vulnerable people. 

Responses to the current crisis range from regular befriending calls to some of the most isolated people within their community to providing online / remote activities for children and young people.

Looking after our most excluded people

Teresa Aitken, the Trust’s development manager, said: “We are working to support the most vulnerable people within Glenboig and the wider community to get through this crisis together.

“Over and above the support we are providing for the village of Glenboig and four surrounding villages, we have expanded to action referrals from the North Lanarkshire Council Helpline.

“We’re supporting vulnerable people across the area with food and/or medicines deliveries and wellbeing/befriending calls. We’re also working with partners across Coatbridge to coordinate this.”

The trust has been working with a lot of new people in recent weeks and one of these is Jim* who is in his early 50s and lives alone. He has ongoing issues with alcohol and has struggled with his mental health for a number of years. Jim’s family has become estranged from him over the years and following the recent death of his mother Jim was almost completely isolated.

Teresa continued: “We have made several attempts to engage with Jim and offer him help and support through our services in the post. Until now, Jim refused all offers of support from us.

“In the past few weeks, an old friend who was growing increasingly concerned for Jim’s health and wellbeing, especially as he was self-isolating, was able to convince him that he should contact us. He did and we were able to establish that he needed help with food and some basic necessities.  

“We put together a nutritious food parcel with fresh meats, some cupboard staples, fruit and vegetables along with a comfort parcel with the toiletries that he had requested and a few basic extras, and delivered this to Jim.

“On arriving at his home, our staff found Jim in a very dishevelled state. He said he was still feeling unwell following a recent heart attack. It became clear to our staff that he was reaching a crisis point and needed further support. At this point however, he refused this.

“We continued to visit Jim and take essential food and toiletries to him. Our staff have been building up trust with him over the past few weeks and recently we were able to successfully encourage Jim to agree to be referred to the council’s Financial Inclusion Team for further assistance.

“We also found out that Jim needed immediate help with his gas and electricity – he had just over £1 left on his meters. We were able to top up both meters to ensure that this does not run out and are assisting him with a further referral to help him with this.

“Our ongoing contact and support has helped prevent a very distressing situation from becoming a crisis for Jim. He is engaging with staff through regular wellbeing calls and has been referred to services for further assistance and support. Jim has commented to staff that it is good to know that someone is looking out for him.”

Both staff and volunteers worked collectively during the COVID-19 restrictions to respond to the community's needs and ensure continuity throughout the period.

Teresa continued: “We were all comfortable supporting Jim and the community. We felt well supported with staff procedural training, advice and support from NHS Lanarkshire’s Public Health department. We also had PPE sourced from NLC and NHS Lanarkshire.

“The team is delighted Jim engaged with us as he was a very determined independent man. We recognised his need to 'take back control' and become independent once again and this formed the ultimate goal for him once restrictions were lessened.

“We supported and encouraged this self-resilience through providing Jim with alternative ways of getting supports. We linked Jim into local shopping services which enabled him to get shopping deliveries and cooking once again for himself. Our befriending service noted a marked improvement in Jim's eagerness to talk and has continued with the service.

“Now that our centre has resumed some services, such as local Post office shop and café we have noted Jim comes in and interacts with staff. He has notably kept up with personal grooming and appears to be coping well once again.

“We are confident that Jim will approach Glenboig staff if required again. Now that Jim is active again, in contact with staff and the wider community we are confident there is a network of support in place to ensure Jim will not slip into a crisis state again.”

*Name changed.