Red Cross volunteer enables people in crisis to regain independence

When Tricia Lodge, 71, retired and moved to the North Yorkshire Dales, she was keen to do something that would help others and also get her out of the house.

A friend showed her a newspaper article about a new Red Cross service in the Yorkshire Moors and Dales, and she decided to apply. Two years on, Ms Lodge is one of the team of volunteers for her local ‘Support at home’ service which offers practical help and emotional support to people in crisis in rural areas, enabling them to remain independent in their own homes.

It is a role that is extremely varied, according to Ms Lodge, who says: “No two cases are the same. I help people with everyday tasks such as hanging out the washing or preparing food; things they can’t do for themselves due to injury or illness.

“On another occasion I might help someone fill in forms, accompany them to the shops when they are regaining their confidence after a stay in hospital, or I might just pop round for a chat and some companionship.”

On one day, she found herself being introduced to her client’s favourite cow Briony. Although she admits “I don’t like being close to cattle. It was a lovely coincidence to find that Briony is a ‘Red Cross’, a cross between a Swedish Red and a Hereford”.

Tricia Lodge feels she is often able to act as an advocate for people in accessing council services and help from other charities. “We recently helped a gentleman living in unheated and unsuitable accommodation to find a place in sheltered housing, and were able to put him in touch with a charity that supplied a mobility scooter. It is great to see him mobile and able to get out of the house again.

“I enjoy meeting people and feel privileged to be able to support them at difficult times in their lives.”

She works closely with the Red Cross team which carefully matches her to a client, who she then works with for up to three months. “It’s up to me how much time I spend, but in order to become a volunteer I needed to commit to a minimum of one hour a week. However, I enjoy what I am doing and regularly spend half a day a week – sometimes up to ten hours - volunteering each week.”

The ‘Support at home’ service is one of eleven rural services funded by Land Rover currently looking for more people like Tricia Lodge who would like to contribute to the work of the Red Cross in their area. Colette Kemp, the Red Cross manager for the Moors and Dales, based in Northallerton, hopes that potential new volunteers will come forward. “Thanks to Land Rover’s support we have a fantastic service across the Moors and Dales, but like all our services, we always need more volunteers.” she said.

Trained volunteers visit people in their homes, accompany them shopping or take them to social and community activities for a period of up to three months. Ultimately the aim is to help people regain their confidence and become independent once more.

Information can be found at www.redcross.org.uk under ‘Support At Home’.

The work of the Red Cross in North Yorkshire can be seen in a short film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u612X8ZbpM

Land Rover UK and the British Red Cross are working together to deliver essential support to more than 13,000 people facing crisis in rural locations around the country.

Between 2013 and 2018 Land Rover UK aims to provide over £2 million worth of support to 11 new and existing projects. The areas covered are rural locations in Yorkshire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and NE Somerset, Exeter, Kent & Sussex, Northern Ireland, Merthyr, and Scotland.