WAB Mag
Spring 2014
Cooking for Confidence
Your Local Charity for Local People
Editorial
January and February were not cold months - but it did rain more than it had done for over a hundred years. The rain caused severe flooding in some areas of the country, and then there were gales. Are these signs that our climate is changing?
Monday 4th August 2014 will be the hundredth anniversary of the start of the Great War, the war to end all wars, that later became known as World War I, and events will be held to commemorate it. Do you have any family stories about the First World War that you could share with other readers?
Thank you to the readers who have written to us or left a message in the office, we appreciate hearing from you. If you could send your items for the Summer issue of WAB Mag by 22nd May we would be happy to receive them. It’s YOUR magazine.
June is designated as Blind Awareness Month and WAB will be arranging special events, and you will be notified about those taking place near you. There is also an event for Volunteers.
In this Spring edition there’s quite a lot of news from WAB and we continue our series of articles about the jobs of different members of staff. We give information on equipment and medical advances. There’s a Traveller’s Tale, also we introduce Lucy and describe her route back to independence.
We hope you find this Mag interesting and/or entertaining.
Rosemary Went Editor
Rosalie Visick Co-Editor
WAB Mag is distributed FREE to Subscribing Members of Warwickshire Association for the Blind
This publication is also available in digital audio and by email
For more information, please contact us
01926 411331
Email:
Website:
Registered Charity Number: 1123220
Registered Company Number: 6511954
Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks are expressed to Kenilworth Talking News for producing the digital audio version of WAB Mag. We acknowledge the use of information from Daily Telegraph, NB, The Times and Vision.
Views expressed in WAB Mag are not necessarily those of the management of WAB.
Image of Warwick Road Crossing reproduced by kind permission of Warwickshire County Council
Contents
Editorial......
Acknowledgements......
Contents......
INSIDE WAB......
Used Postage Stamps......
Archiving of Historical Records......
WAB SERVICES......
My Guide......
Luncheon Club......
Leamington Drop-in Centre......
Shoppa-Hoppa......
Advocacy Groups......
WAB’s Bowls Club......
MEDICAL CONDITIONS ANDINFORMATION......
Eye Health......
Coping with IncreasingDemand......
Homonymous Hemianopia......
Visual Problems after Stroke......
Increased Risk of Glaucoma......
FEATURES......
Lucy Regains Her Confidence......
Cooking for Confidence......
A Traveller’s Tale......
The Pleasure of Reading......
New Pedestrian Crossing inWarwick......
EQUIPMENT......
Talking Kitchen Scale Mk V from Cobolt......
Talking Measuring Jug fromCobolt......
RNIB Vocal Talking KitchenScale......
MEDICAL ADVANCES......
Medical Research......
Glaucoma Research......
Contact Lens to treat Glaucoma......
Tomorrow’s World?......
STAFF AND ROLES......
Welcome back Rachael......
The Role of Fundraising & Business Development Manager......
EVENTS......
Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford......
Sight Village 2014......
SERVICES......
More Books......
Articles for the Blind......
Nuneaton and Bedworth Talking Newspaper......
For Sale......
LATE NEWS......
Winter Paralympic Success......
INSIDE WAB
Consultations
Last year Members were invited to a Drop in Centre near them for an opportunity to voice their opinions about the services they would like WAB to provide. Club Leaders were also asked to talk to the Members at their club to get their views. From these Consultations John Davis, Manager, compiled a list of the services and the Directors held special Strategy meetings to consider them.
Proposed services were considered carefully and prioritised on the basis of their importance to users and input needed to establish them.
For every new service there is a cost. There is a financial cost involved in setting up a new service and then with running it: time, materials and money are needed.
A Strategic Plan 2014-2016 was produced. This comprehensive document sets out WAB’s position in terms of its services that have evolved to reflect current needs and thinking and to ensure the relevance to service users.
The Drop-in Centres will be developed:
- They will expand to cover both more remote and high demand areas
- Partnerships will be formed with different agencies to improve service awareness
- More formal exhibitions of equipment and services
- Programmes of introduction to services for newly registered members
Other services that will be developed:
- The Home Visitor Service will grow
- The IT service will be spread to all parts of the county
- It is hoped there will be a presence at every hospital eye clinic in Warwickshire and Coventry to be available for newly diagnosed visually impaired people
Brand new services will be introduced:
- Advocacy groups
- My Guide
- Shopping Service
- Telephone Befriending Service
The profile of WAB will be raised through the use of local newspapers, website, local radio and the development of the brand identity.
WAB seeks to further increase income from Legacy gifts and donations from Trusts and Foundations.
WAB will seek to develop new income streams and trading income through the provision of services (e.g. Braille, audio transcription, etc.)
The first Strategic Plan 2014-2016 has been amended and refined.
To reach these goals requires:
- the continuing dedication of WAB’s staff team
- the continuing support of WAB’s Volunteers
- success in fundraising to support WAB’s work
A copy of the “Warwickshire Association for the Blind Strategic Plan 2014-2016” is available upon request by Subscribing Members.
Used Postage Stamps
Please don’t throw away used postage stamps. WAB collects them.
The stamps should be carefully torn from the envelope leaving a small border, then: either sent to WAB, taken to a Drop in Centre, or given to a Club Leader.
When WAB has collected sufficient stamps to fill a mail bag, which takes a lot of stamps, they are sold. The income from this helps to support WAB’s charitable work.
All contributions welcome.
Healthwatch - A Voice for Visually Impaired People
1st April 2014 is the first anniversary of structural changes to the NHS. Clinical Commissioning Groups were set up to plan and commission secondary and community care services. It is envisaged that Health and Social Care Services will become integrated in the future.
WAB has a place on a group that has been set up called the Healthwatch Referral Group. Healthwatch provides input into the new Health and Wellbeing (H&W) Board.
There is a member of Healthwatch on the H&W Board, which represents the public who use the Health and Social Care Service. The H&W Board will set the priorities for the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and the Local Authority.
Archiving of Historical Records
Kath Phelps, Company Secretary
When WAB celebrated its centenary in 2011 it became obvious that we owned some valuable historical records. Of particular note were the Annual Reports from 1911 until the present day and committee meeting minutes from 1936-55. Also there was a collection of photographs including those of the visit of the Queen Mother. Further investigation revealed that records of the founding meeting of WAB and its early years were archived in the County Record Office in Priory Park, Warwick.
The passage of 100 years and the change of status to a Company in 2008 meant that it was a good time to add this extra material to the Archive. To make the photographs more meaningful John Mills, who was Manager of WAB in the 1980’s and earlier, has listed many of the individuals and events represented. Some photos have also been digitised for future use.
These materials have now been given to the County Record Office and catalogued as accession CR4610. Details of the agreement are stored at the WAB office. The records will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act but members should rest assured that, under this Act, personal records cannot be accessed for at least 75 years. Also committee meetings are closed for 30 years. We are pleased to have ensured that the work of WAB will be recorded for posterity.
WAB SERVICES
My Guide
My Guide is a new service for visually impaired people (VIP’s), provided by WAB in partnership with Guide Dogs. My Guide is designed to enable VIP’s to get out of their homes more and participate in their local community.
We can provide volunteers who will come to your home and lead you out to a pre-arranged venue or activity. It may be that you would like to take a walk for exercise or to build up confidence, to go to an activity or group but are unable to get there.
Whilst My Guide volunteers may be able to take you shopping for a special occasion to buy a particular gift we cannot provide volunteers to help you with your weekly shopping.
All the volunteers will have been given sighted guide training. We will endeavour to provide you with a volunteer guide to meet your requests but the service is dependent upon volunteer availability and our policy of fair usage to ensure that all people get access to the services they require.
My Guide is free to all Registered Members of WAB. However if you choose to use public or private transport then you will be expected to pay for your own transport costs and those of the volunteer who accompanies you.
If you would like more information please telephone us on: 01926411331 or
Luncheon Club
VIP’s who live in Henley in Arden and the surrounding area are invited to attend a luncheon club.
The event is held on the first Wednesday of each month and takes place at a different venue each time. Although called a luncheon club, it could be a coffee morning or afternoon tea instead, if that is what the group members decide to make their monthly treat.
A friendly team of Volunteers is on hand to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable time. For anyone who cannot make their own way to the chosen venue transport can be arranged at a cost of £3.
If you live in the Henley area and are interested in attending this new club, please contact Sue at WAB on 01926411331
Leamington Drop-in Centre
The venue for Leamington Drop-in Centre has been changed to Chandos Court in Chandos Street.
Chandos Court offers good accessibility (as was commented on by two of its early visitors).
Leamington Drop-in Centre is open every Monday morning from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
We offer a wide range of events and you are assured of a friendly welcome.
Shoppa-Hoppa
Warwickshire Association for the Blind is in partnership with Back and 4th Community Transport to provide a community bus service in Warwick and Leamington.
The Shoppa-Hoppa service operates every Monday, collecting passengers from their homes, transporting them to a supermarket, usually in the Shires Retail Park area, taking its passengers to either Aldi, Lidl, Morrison’s or Sainsbury’s where they will have approximately 2 hours for
shopping, and then taking them home.
A volunteer driver and passenger assistant will staff the bus.
If you can’t manage to shop on your own you can either provide your own escort, perhaps a carer or family member who can travel with you, alternatively a volunteer escort can meet you at the supermarket and assist you with your shopping. In both cases the escort must be booked at the same time as you book your seat on the bus (either the seat for your own escort or to have a volunteer available).
Back and 4th is happy to transport assistance dogs and walking aids. Back and 4th has wheelchair accessible vehicles and staff trained to board and secure wheelchairs. Please let them know your requirements when booking.
The Shoppa-Hoppa is a mini-bus service, so space will be limited. Passengers are requested to limit their shopping to an amount they can reasonably carry themselves.
The cost of a return journey is £6, payable in cash to the driver on the day of the journey.
Advocacy Groups
Steve Plumpton
Blind Board Member
In the summer of 2013 the WAB Board invited service users around the county to meetings at our Drop-in Centres. The purpose of these was to gain your view on the work that the Association does and to hear from you what else we should be doing. Since those meetings the Board has been working on a plan to put some of your ideas into action.
One of the subjects that several of you raised was advocacy. You would like the Association to promote the needs of visually impaired people within the county to organisations that often ignore our problems. The kinds of issues raised at these meetings were:
- Better access to medical services
- Problems with street furniture
There may be many other ideas that you have.
We have decided to set up three advocacy groups:
- One in the north of the county
- One in the centre
- One in the south
The north Warwickshire group started by meeting on 6th March at the Nuneaton Drop in Centre. Once we have established this group and working practices, the other two groups will be formed, hopefully in early 2015.
Letters were sent out to service users in the north of the county, seeking volunteers to take part in the group. Similar letters will go to service users in the centre and south of Warwickshire later this year.
In the next couple of WAB Mags we will let you know how the North group is progressing and we look forward to the challenges ahead.
WAB’s Bowls Club
WAB’s Bowls Club is now starting later - 10 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. - every Friday at the Avon Valley Indoor Bowls Club at Lighthorne. Non-players welcome.
It is hoped that the later starting time will encourage new members to join. For more information contact WAB on 01926 411331
MEDICAL CONDITIONS ANDINFORMATION
Eye Health
Who is responsible for your eye health? Initially, it is you, yourself, who must take care of your general health by trying to achieve the best state of general health that is possible. Eye health is an important part of general health.
How is good health achieved? There is no one simple answer to that, because we are all affected by events and situations outside our control. We inherit the genetics of our parents and there are accidents of life that can befall us. However, we can aim for good health by taking care to eat as healthily as we can, and exercising our bodies regularly (use it or lose it). To eat healthily we should follow a balanced diet that includes protein, carbohydrates and five portions of different fruits and vegetables each day. Just a short walk counts towards daily exercise. We should also follow any prescribed medical regime.
What other factors promote eye health? Services offered in the eye health area include prevention, screening and diagnosis, also help and support.
Preventable sight loss was included as a public health indicator by the Government for the very first time in 2012. The Government has also made reforms to the National Health Service, to make it more patient focused and clinically led.
Last year patient and professional organisations from across the eye health sector came together to form the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning. The Council is led by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the College of Optometrists and includes The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, RNIB and VISION 2020 UK. It will act as a unified voice for eye health in England.
What will the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning do? It has begun by working with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists to produce NICE-accredited commissioning guidance on cataract and glaucoma services. It then plans to look at the best ways to improve the quality and efficiency of services for age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
The Council will provide advice to NHS leaders in health care, social care and public health on matters related to eye health. The Council hopes to be the prime provider of clinical advice on eye health matters to NHS England.
Coping with IncreasingDemand
When we are ill our expectation is that ‘there’s a cure for it’. Medical knowledge has increased through research and many of the conditions and diseases of previous generations can now be treated, but there are still many that can’t.
With more treatments available people with previously untreatable conditions can receive drugs or have operations to cure or hold their symptoms at bay. These treatments of course require more resources - funding, facilities and staff.
The number of patients in eye clinics has increased. For the last 5 years patients have been able to receive injections for wet Age-related Macular Degeneration, to slow the progress of the disease.
A recent survey by the Macular Society showed that 66 per cent of NHS trusts were not meeting the 4week follow-up times for patients affected by wet AMD set out in the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.