Isobel started by stating that to say that this has been a challenging year for us all would probably be an understatement! At Alive, before the pandemic hit, we were beginning to change the way we were offering our services, and COVID-19 has forced us to accelerate this period of change. My period of leadership has certainly been a rollercoaster of huge ups and downs. To quote Charles Dickens, it really has been “The best of times and the worst of times”.
Before becoming CEO of Alive, Isobel had worked for the charity for eight years in others roles. With over 15 years of experience working in the charity sector, and over 30 years of experience with dementia in a personal and professional capacity, Isobel has been instrumental in shaping Alive to deliver creative and innovative person-centred activity in care settings and across the community.
Alive is a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life of older people and their carers.
Our vision is a world where older people live lives full of joy, meaning and connection.
Our mission is to prioritise health and wellbeing into later life by:
* Engaging older people creatively through meaningful activity
* Training and supporting care staff to enrich the lives of older people
* Reducing the isolation of older people by connecting them to their communities
* Speaking up for the rights of older people to those with the power to improve their lives
We achieve this by being one of the UK’s leading practitioners of meaningful activity for older people. Working within care homes and the wider community, our charity delivers a variety of services and innovative projects to bring engagement, physical activity, and support to older people, in particularly those living with dementia and the people that support them.
Isobel went on to emphasize the following points
Why We Exist
in an ageing population where the social care sectore is facing dramatic Changes and challenges. Care homes are finding their their residents are coming to live with them with more complicated needs. Older people at home are often socially isolated and not getting the care and interactionthey need and deserve.
Care settings are closing rapidly and, for a minimum wage, care staff work a job that rquires a vast skills set, and vunerable people often pay the price. Care at Home agencies have rushed appointments as timetables need to be addressed.
Through our activity sessions, support groups, and training for carers, both in the community and in care homes, Alive exists to address this need of social isolation in our older population and to keep older peoples’ needs at the heart of decision making.
Our Vision
A world where older people live lives full of joy, meaning and connection.
Our Mission
To prioritise health and wellbeing into later life by:
* Engaging older people creatively through meaningful activity
* Training and supporting care staff to enrich the lives of older people
* Reducing the isolation of older people by connecting them to their communities
* Speaking up for the rights of older people to those with the power to improve their lives
What We Do
Alive is one of the UK’s leading practitioners of meaningful activity for older people. Working within care homes and the wider community, our charity delivers a variety of services and innovative projects to bring engagement, physical activity, and support to older people, in particularly those living with dementia and the people that support them.
Why We Exist
We are living in an ageing population where the social care sector is facing dramatic changes and challenges. Care homes are finding their residents are coming to live with them with more complicated needs. Older people at home often are socially isolated and not getting the care and interaction they need and deserve. Care settings are closing rapidly and, for minimum wage, care staff work a job that requires a vast skillset, and vulnerable older people can often pay the price. Care at Home agencies have rushed appointments as timetables need to be addressed.
Through our activity sessions, support groups, and training, for carers both in the community and in care homes, Alive exists to address this need of social isolation in our older population and to keep older peoples’ needs at the heart of decision making.
Our Values
Collaborative
We work with older people and partners to deliver services that are needed and wanted. We can’t achieve change on our own – we make more of an impact when we work together.
Creative
We embrace creativity. We like to try and test new approaches, new partnerships, new ways of working. We aren’t frightened of taking risks and possibly making mistakes.
Compassionate
We love what we do and who we work with. We are passionate about improving the lives of older people and strive to create a positive and engaging work culture in which we can all grow.
Committed
We deliver, train, connect, influence. We are a group of people who never give up and are fully committed to improving the lives of older people through activity in whatever way we can.
Community-focussed
We fully understand the value of togetherness and work hard to create supportive and inclusive communities for older people in whatever way we can.
All in All, Isobel gave a comprehensive talk about the care industry, it's strengths and weakness's and the many problematic issues it faces.
It seems that for it to progress to the higher quality service we all hope for that Alive Activities needs to succeed in in all its objectives. We truly hope that Isabel and her teams fully achieve their objectives and that one day we may all benefit from their endeavours.
We were also pleased to welcome ADG Bob Holt to lunch today.
In the above photograph Bob is on the left and new President Jeff on the right
