Buddy a Granny
Elderly Persons Project
The SRC have a number of roles available for working with Glasgow’s elderly folk. These roles range from helping out at lunch clubs to slightly more challenging work in Dementia Units, so whatever your reasons for getting involved there are plenty of opportunities to offer a friendly ear and some company to the residents, and to put a smile on the faces of elderly people in the local community.
Of course, ‘helping the elderly’ is a general phrase and you may be involved in a variety of activities depending on what you choose to do. It’s worth noting that at no point will you be expected to care or look after any residents, as that’s the job of paid staff. You’ll be taking part in activities that the care homes run or helping with trips that they’ve arranged for their residents.
Nursing Homes and Sheltered Housing
The SRC have developed a partnership with Bield Housing Associations which gives you the chance to volunteer in a number of roles with them, ranging from helping as a befriender in their Sheltered Housing complexes to helping out with Residential and Nursing Dementia homes.
Forget Me Not
This is for students looking for something a bit more challenging and who are able to visit someone in a care home or hospital and brighten their day. We’ve teamed up with Alzheimer Scotland to give students three half day sessions of group training on how to relate to the person rather than their illness followed by a placement in a care home or hospital for, on average, two hours a week to befriend a person with dementia.
Contact the Elderly
As well as care or nursing homes, and with the help of this local charity, students are able to visit residents in their own homes – many of the residents are housebound and you’ll be providing them with some much needed company.
Lunch Clubs
In these roles you’ll be helping out at lunch clubs that are put on by local community groups in Hyndland on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
Wing Hong Elderly Centre
We have teamed up with the Wing Hong Elderly Centre in Garnethill to offer befriending to those who attend this day centre. The centre is mainly for elderly Chinese residents who take part in games, exercises and a lunch club. Volunteers can go along for a morning or afternoon each week.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please e-mail volunteer@src.gla.ac.uk. The SRC are required to ask all students who will go on to work with children under the age of 18 or vulnerable adults to complete a Disclosure Scotland form, and you collect one of these from the SVSS Coordinator on the first floor of the John McIntyre building.