Christmas Community FamilyLife

Top Tips to Support the Elderly and Vulnerable during Christmas in Andover

Hampshire County Council is asking anyone supporting an older or vulnerable person – be they family, friend or someone in their community – to ensure they are well prepared for the festive season, by taking a few simple steps to help keep them safe and well.

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Adult Services and Public Health shared the following advice, “Being prepared for the festive period is especially important for the elderly and vulnerable and is even more so this Christmas with the increase in COVID cases and concerns over the prevalence of the Omicron variant. Knowing what support is available in advance can make all the difference if you need to step in to support someone.”

Top tips

Connect to Support Hampshire, the County Council’s one-stop-shop online directory of care and support provides a wide range of practical advice. This includes helpful information on:

Keeping warm and eating well
Staying connected with others 
Ensuring your prescriptions are topped up

In addition, make sure those you care for have access to COVID lateral flow tests. Tests can be ordered online or collected from your nearest participating pharmacy.

Councillor Fairhurst added: “Once again this Christmas, we are facing uncertainty and need to do all we can to ensure that those in our lives who may be vulnerable, are supported to stay safe and well – and that includes considerations relating to mental wellbeing – the festive period can often be a time when people experience loneliness or social isolation.  We also want to remind people that help is at hand if they are experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19 or because they are self-isolating as a result of the virus.”

Unity have set up a community helpline to help those who need it over the festive period , they are encouraging people who need help and support to just call the helpline on 0330 400 4116 or email unityc-19@unityonline.org.uk

Unity staff say, “Please don’t hesitate to call. If you can’t get out, we are here to help.”

If you are offering support and advice to local Andover community, please contact us at community@loveandover.com so that we can share what your offering