OBADO- LANKLEY CHASE SPACE PROJECT

The Covid-19 pandemic has made older people more vulnerable and isolated during lockdown.   It has made reliance on technology inevitable to communicate with others to reduce loneliness; to access online mainstream services including booking doctors’ appointments, booking a Covid-19 test, applying for benefits, reporting repairs to housing; accessing home care support with shopping and managing bills.  

OBADO has realised the importance of digital inclusion; and how vital it is for the older people to be equipped with the skills that are needed to access those services.

OBADO has been innovative by equipping older people with equipment and IT skills to empower them with digital technology in an effort to make their lives easier; and to improve their physical and mental well-being, as well as their social lives particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Older people have been encouraged and motivated to adapt flexible coping skills for example, by learning how to access virtual platforms like Zoom to chat with others: friends, family members, professionals working with them – safe and comfortable in their own homes.  They have also been encouraged to feel useful in their own space by sharing information during sessions on topics related to them for example; cooking cultural foods, coping strategies during the pandemic; how to keep safe in their homes and in the community; money matters; and on importance of Life Insurance and of writing a Will.

 Older people are happy with OBADO’s initiatives and are grateful to Lankley Chase for the grant which has enabled them to have spaces – face to face and via Zoom to explore how to heal, re-imagine  and renew systems enabling them to live with dignity and improved access to culturally appropriate support services in the community.

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