In this issue: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
COVID Update Vaccine stories & Myths Group activities Carers Update Mindfulness for Carers Word game Poetry/Song Corner Puzzle Reice’s column on nutrition Pets corner Fund raising Finance update Tea or coffee Volunteers Social Media & Credits
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COVID update – From Tony Hart, Director of Strategy and Business Development SELNWK Re-opening Road Map SELNWK is keen to resume some of the pre Covid services as soon as possible but need to ensure this can be done as safely as possible. Questionnaire - Keyworkers are unrolling a questionnaire to capture members/families’ thoughts and concerns etc regarding the re-opening of our physical doors. Shrewsbury House - Keyworkers, Senior Keyworkers and Director of Strategy and Business Development allocated days to meet and undertake a run through of re-opening plans that have been discussed (27.05.21 and 10.06.21) Mulberry Centre - A meeting has also been arranged to visit on 11.06.21.
Page 2 Please Note: To be as safe as possible, we will be operating a reduced pattern of attendance. This will affect how many days and hours members will be able to attend. Typically, this will mean attending either a 2-hour session in a morning or a 2-hour session in an afternoon. Community Support - We will resume community support as soon as it is practically possible to do so. Digital Support - Will continue as part of a hybrid service. We all hope Covid does not get a grip again and we want to ensure we maintain the digital service so that we are prepared if it does. Summary - SELNWK will provide further updates in due course.
Vaccine stories including useful transport tip. Hello my name is Vanessa and I am a member at Headway SELNWK. On Monday the 25th January I had my Covid 19 vaccine at Guys & St Thomas Hospital in London. At first as you can imagine I had concerns about going up to the hospital via London transport on my mobility scooter. Having the Vaccine for me was a good experience and very well organised by all the staff at the hospital. On the way home there was a problem with the trains, so SouthEastern train service organised a Black cab home for me as they could not assist me with the disabled ramp at my end destination. This did not cost me anything. I was not aware of this service so thought I should share with all of you.
Vaccine Myths At present it is important that everyone who’s invited for a COVID jab should accept so that they become protected against severe disease and there is sufficient herd immunity so we can all start socialising again. Unfortunately, there are some myths going round. These are regularly deleted from the main social platforms but continue to circulate via the platforms that are more private - e.g. WhatsApp. Here are a few of them:
Page 3 The vaccine contains animal substance. This is not true. Vaccines can now be grown without using animal derivatives - which makes them safer. A microchip has been added. Apart from the lack of the technology that could create such tiny microchips there would be no point. The vaccines come in vials of at least 5 doses so it would not be possible to add an identity tag. Millions of people have been vaccinated so the amount of data generated would be impossible to understand. The vaccine makes you sterile. There is no mechanism in the body that would make this happen. This is a standard myth for all preventative treatments that has been widespread in Africa for 100 years or more. It derives from the belief that western nations were trying to regulate African numbers by secretly treating them with drugs or vaccines that prevented breeding - an understandable worry in the age of empire.
Vaccine considerations There are 3 vaccines currently in use in the UK. Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Moderna. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines need special storage while the Astra Zeneca vaccine can be given in GP surgeries and other venues where a really cold freezer in not available. Over 80 million people have been vaccinated in the UK and there have been very few serious side effects. However, there is one concern. The Astra Zeneca vaccine has been associated with an unusual form of clotting. This is extremely rare - 30 cases in 80 million vaccinated people. So far it has not been reported with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The risk/benefit ratio is strongly in favour of taking the Astra Zeneca vaccine in the people currently being vaccinated, as you are more likely to suffer serious illness or death from COVID if you don’t have the vaccine than you are to develop clots from having the vaccine. The MHRA (the body responsible for monitoring the safety of treatments) are keeping a close eye on this issue. The cases of clotting have occurred in younger people who are also less likely to suffer serious illness from COVID, so people under 30 will not be given the Astra Zeneca vaccine but will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, which have not been linked to clotting.
Page 4 If you have a serious illness or are taking drugs that lower your immunity, it is good idea to consult your doctor before having the jab. In most cases the doctor will say that the jab is better than getting COVID.
Members’ Group Updates SELNWK’s got Talent We held another very successful SELNWK’s Got Talent Night on the last Friday of March and it has become very evident that SELNWK really does have a lot of talent! To date we have discovered we have budding comedians, poets and musicians and that’s just for starters! Our next SELNWK’s Got Talent will be held via Zoom on the last Friday of each month at 5pm. Please come along and join us for a fun packed hour! To bag your slot – or just listen in - contact Tricia at triciareilly@headwayselnwk.co.uk or tonyhart@headwayselnwk.co.uk Drama Group. The Drama group facilitated by the Blue Elephant Theatre (BET) with initial funding from The Mrs Smith & Mount Trust has finished it’s first term. Here’s what Chandip has to say about it “At first, hearing about The Blue Elephant Trust, was boring, as I wasn’t really willing to act. (I didn’t really like drama at school.) But then when the lady went on to talk about it, she said that anyone who wants to come forward to join The Blue Elephant Trust, doesn’t have to act; they can get involved in other ways, be it designing and making costumes, making sets or writing scripts, etc. Hearing this got me interested because I have a background in art and design.” Both Stephen and Chandip have joined the group and are really enjoying it!! Each person is developing their own character and are thinking of how to create a series of plays using the characters. Filming is finished and is in editing now. We will be organising an online public screening of the performances and interviews which will launch our education campaign re: Acquired Brain Injury. We will be promoting this widely via email and our social media so look out for the screening date which we hope will be end of July or August 2021. More on Gogglebox. 3pm – 4pm Mondays.
Page 5 “Watching the Louis Theroux documentary, in two of our Gogglebox sessions, was very interesting; I was interested to see two points of view. Being a brain injury victim myself, I only see the brain injury looking out, but in this documentary, we were able to see how brain injury appears to someone looking in,” said Chandip
Carers’ Update There have been lots happening with our Carers & Family Group. We continue to meet the first Thursday of every month from 7-9 p.m. and we celebrated National Carers Week 7-14 June. The group have decided to start keeping notes of what the discuss during part of the meeting – the structured part and will be making these available to everyone via email and social media after the notes have been agreed at the following meeting so keep your eyes peeled for the June notes! Art Therapy – A small group of Carers have started their Art Therapy sessions. Feedback from their taster session included: a. Effects of the Art Therapy Taster session lasted a long time and was calming immediately after. b. Thought provoking c. Drew you out in a softer way d. What was said there was left there We now have a Carers Leaflet/Brochure subgroup – initiated by Carers (and members) to create a poster and brochure specifically for Carers and family members on Tuesday’s 6.30 – 7.30 p.m. If you would like to join it please let Tricia know at triciareilly@headwayselnwk.co.uk
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Page 7 The last of our scheduled Mindfulness Courses takes places from Thursday July 8th 2021. Book now to secure your place! Mindfulness for Carers Course, open to ALL Carers REGISTER BEFORE 01.07.21 to secure place Call the contact centre on 020 3045 5176 quoting reference: B08COM-MINDCAREHEA/20-002 Mindfulness for Carers @ Headway Course lasts for 3 weeks Thursdays 8/7/21 – 22/7/21 7 – 8.30pm
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Word Game Try and find as many English words of 3 letters or more using the letters of the following word – each letter of the word can only be used once in each word. (e.g. words from PEOPLE could include peep, pope, lope). The word this issue is GRATITUDE Yet again Jane M found the most words. From memory (I have lost the email!!!) she found 47 words Email your list to newsletter@headwayselnwk.co.uk by 25th March and we will publish who found the most words and who found the longest word.
Poetry/Song Corner Here’s a poem about the easing of lock down from Chandip. The end is near! Dates and rules ever-changing, People find that they have to keep on arranging, Days and trips out, or even holidays to somewhere hot, This pandemic will be hastily forgot. People twiddling their thumbs and chewing their nails, The anxiety of people, steadily going off the rails. Nurses and doctors under heaps and heaps of stress, Taking breaks where they can, eating sandwiches of egg and cress.
Page 9 But, alas! The end is near, and we can all see the light! We just need to play by the rules and be ready to fight, If ever this virus was to get inside us, we wouldn’t let it win, We would fight it off and give a big grin!
Puzzle The answers to the clues below include all the letters from the answer above (not necessarily in the same order) plus one letter. I’ve given you a start with the first answer.
R I
G
Network of lines Sad song Circled Being worn away Asking for food from a restaurant Summarising Here are the answers to the puzzle in the last issue Change “Gravy” to “Roast” in seven steps by changing one letter in each answer, without changing the order of the other letters Burial Plot Nasty scratch Shiny finish for pottery Big fire Overconfident & casual Explosion Brag
GRAVY Grave Graze Glaze Blaze Blasé Blast Boast ROAST
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Reice’s column on nutrition Reice This month Reice is focussing on dairy Dairy is a product intended for calf (baby cow). Therefore, it is to no surprise, that it is bad for humans. So why is it so bad for us? Dairy is full of growth hormones and saturated fat. This type of saturated fat contributes to heart disease, type-2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have also linked dairy to an increased risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.
When approximately, 65 percent of human population, has a reduced ability to digest lactose, we must ask ourselves, why are we still drinking it? There are four types of lactose intolerance, primary, secondary, developmental and congenital. You may even experience one yourself, however, because we are naive, we blame many of these problems on something that seems logical to us.
Dairy is also a big contender for excess weight gain, I don’t have a problem with people being over-weight, I just believe that people deserve to know the truth. It is essentially a choice, I can’t force you; or anyone to start caring about their health.
Dairy has also been heavily linked to insulin resistance, antibiotic resistance, and has been linked to giving us a spike in blood sugar; so isn’t great for people with diabetes. Excess calcium is linked to many cancers: e.g.ovarian cancer. Dairy has actually been shown to withdraw calcium from bones, is one cause of acne, worsens eczema, can lead to
Page 11 constipation, at the other end of the scale, diarrhoea, creates bone fractures, and so on.
This is a very personal view. So here is a link to what the NHS says: Dairy and alternatives in your diet - NHS (www.nhs.uk) In summary - some dairy can provide useful vitamins and is a good source of protein and calcium. For most people it is good to limit the quantities of milk, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products – in particular butter and cream are very high in fat. In general, it is better to choose a low fat option but be careful in case there is added salt or sugar. The only exception to the low-fat rule is in infants. Under 1 years old children should not be given non-human milk (cows’,goats’,sheep’s). After that, they should be given full fat milk until the age of 2 years as taking the fat out of milk also removes vitamin A.
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Pets’ Corner
Jane with Dave
Jane got Dave, her very well-loved black and white cat, from Battersea Dogs Home some years back. She reckons he was about 2-3 years old when she got him. He’s now 10 and has a very special place in her home and heart. She got Dave after her brain injury because she wanted someone to look after. “I’ve always liked cats and they like me.” Dave, she says “doesn’t take to many people, maybe because of the way that he’d been treated before I got him.” They are very close – and have got closer during lockdown. “When I used to go to my Wednesday Headway sessions at Shrewsbury House I’d give him a late breakfast just as I was going out of the door to distract him from my leaving. The times I’d forget to do this he’d wail.” Dave, like many cats, knows how to get his owner’s attention. “He’ll bash me in the arm when he wants me to do something for him. He knows what he wants and isn’t shy to ask!”
ODE TO DAVE By Jane
Abandoned to Battersea, he looked at me, Crying aloud. MEOW, As if to say, have you got a problem, pal, Raising his tail, as he walked away, Might see you another day,
Page 13 He seemed to say.
My cat’s name is Dave, He thinks he’s all the rave, He’ll often hide in a cupboard, I bet he thinks it’s a cave, Especially, when he’s asked to behave, I’m not your slave, he cries, Don’t tell me to behave, I’ll stay as I am and in my cave!
He possibly finds I get on his wick, But I am the one he chose to pick.
Fund Raising Great News – there is a way to raise money for Headway SELNWK while doing your online shopping. Amazon has set up a charity arm called “Amazon Smile”. If you use this website, Amazon donates 0.5% of your spending to the charity of your choice. It costs you absolutely nothing!!! Here’s how it works. Go to https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/chpf/homepage?orig=%2F If you already have an Amazon account you can log in using your Amazon username and password. If not, you will have to register. You will be given an option to choose your charity. Click on the button and enter “Headway South East London North West Kent” – you do have to type in the whole lot – I tried shorter versions without success! Then shop as you would if you were using the normal Amazon site.
Page 14 FINANCE update from Andrea Keeling Director of Finance and Operations Despite the Pandemic and massive changes to the Services our Members receive, the Charity is most grateful for those who continue to put their trust in us and have embraced our Digital Service. The Charity has taken advantage of the Governments Job Retention Scheme to subsidise the loss of income. Income is down 41% from February 2020 and of the 92 Members within our Services, 55 Members are engaging in the Digital Service. It has been a challenge to maintain our Services, develop the organisation and plan for our re-opening on reduced levels of resources, we are very thankful for having such a resourceful and dedicated team of staff and volunteers. During the Pandemic the Finance and Operation’s Team have been focusing on recovering Debt, it has been surprising how many Local Authorities have used the Pandemic to review administration processes and update Member accounts. This has proved a fruitful exercise as we have recovered historical debt from several Local Authorities. I would like to say a huge thank you to Debbie Elliston, for all her hard work in this area. The Charity currently has debt liability of less than £6K, this is a massive reduction on this time last last year. The Charity has submitted its Year End accounts to our Accountants and we await a draft copy for the Board to authorise in the coming weeks. GRANTS National Lottery; Reaching Communities - Early Intervention Programme. An application has been submitted to support our Early intervention Service. Following feedback from the National lottery during a one-to-one funding surgery with Maeve Marshall, Funding Manager for Bexley we received positive feedback. Finger crossed everyone OPERATIONS The Finance and HR Team reviewed all our Supplier Contracts in May, we have managed to make a number of savings during this review process. Reducing our overheads is always a priority and this more prevalent as we strive to ensure our sustainability.
Page 15 TRAINING Director of Finance and Operations attended training in May hosted by Small Charities Collation, delivered by the Charity Commission. The Zoom training focused on Responsible Investment Guidance, which is something the Board are currently exploring. The training provided a range of guidance and templates to assist the Board in Financial decision making.
Tea or Coffee Every issue we ask someone in the Headway SELNWK family what they prefer. Coffee or tea or cats or dogs? The questions are always the same, but the answers are always different. This issue it’s Clair explaining how she goes head to head with her grandmother during TV’s Countdown Coffee or tea? Tea! I do not like coffee! Cats or dogs? I can’t pick, they are both lovely!
Clair wearing a hat for Hats for Headway Day. “I couldn't pick what hat to wear so I made my own with a load of different ones on it”.
Fish & Chips or Roast Dinner? I prefer a roast dinner…unless I was to cook it. I wouldn’t have the patience, time, or be able to cook a roast potato as lovely as my Mum can. xbox or X-men Neither. Shopping or sport I prefer playing sport to watching it on TV. I used to play a bit of hockey before lockdown, it can be a painful game but I didn't have to look in my diary to tell me what I did at the weekend - the little pain in my knees or bruises I got from playing would remind me. I used to watch occasionally England play football, but they’ve not won the FIFA world cup since 1966 which is a bit of a let down.
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iphone or Android? I prefer the android mobile BUT I would be lost without my iPod. I still love and need my music. Early Bird or Night Owl? I’m neither an early Bird or a Night Owl, but I am extremely good at sleeping any time of day. It’s part of the competition when I spend my Tuesdays with my grandmother. We have lunch together and watch Countdown but we make it a little harder. As well as competing at who can get the longest word, we also compete at who can stay awake the longest…it’s extremely rare for us both to make it through the whole show awake together but when we do we celebrate with an extra biscuit. Springsteen or Beyonce? I think I’d pick Beyonce. She did some good songs when she was part of Destiny’s Child but I’m currently loving a bit of Motown and classical music (especially pieces with a piano). Volunteers We celebrated National Volunteers Week from 01 – 07 June with an email and social media Campaign. We hope you liked it You can watch a short recap of the campaign here. Since then, we have welcomed another 2 Volunteers to our team – Olivia who has joined our Volunteer Administration and Chloe who will be joining our Social Media team. We are very excited that our online volunteer team is growing, if you are interested in joining our Volunteer team please contact Tricia at triciareilly@headwayselnwk.co.uk
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Your ideas count
Please tell us what you think of this newsletter – any suggestions for improvement? News you would like to share (especially if positive)? -email newsletter@headwayselnwk.co.uk
Our Social Media 1.
You tube Branded Channel Headway SELNWK - YouTube
2.
Issuu Newsletter Magazine headwayselnwk - Issuu which we use for publishing our newsletter and future Bulletins online.
3.
Facebook - Several accounts that we will be amalgamating into one mid July 21. This will be the main account we will be publishing to Headway South East London North West Kent | Facebook
4.
Twitter - 2 accounts that we now have control of and will be amalgamating into one mid Jul 21. This will be the main account we will be publishing to Headway SELNWK (@HeadwaySELNWK) / Twitter
5.
Instagram – we are developing our skills and presence on Instagram our Instagram account can be found here Headway SELNWK (@headwayselnwk)
6.
Mailchimp – We use mailchimp to send our bulk emails to our stakeholders and sometimes use it to simultaneously post to our social media. If you don’t receive our emails and want to join our mailing list please email
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socialmedia@headwayselnwk.co.uk asking to be added to our mailchimp list 7.
Post – we maintain a list of people who prefer to receive their communications via post, they have received the newsletter via post and will continue to receive the bulletin.
Newsletter Production Team: Chandip Jandu – Member, Trustee, Volunteer Stephen Araromi – Member, Volunteer Jen Gillard – Volunteer & Editor Sally Miller – Volunteer & Lead Reporter Patricia Reilly (Tricia) – Director of Communications & Community Engagement - Staff Lead
