Praise for volunteers’ vital support to vulnerable
Date of release: 18 December 2024
Valued volunteers who are involved in a project to support vulnerable residents across Wolverhampton have been thanked for “the big difference” they have made to people’s lives.
HOPE Project Volunteers Celebration Event
The Holistic Opportunities Preventing Exclusion (HOPE) Project is a partnership between The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) Charity and Wolverhampton Voluntary and Community Action (WVCA).
The Charity was awarded £220,000 from NHS Charities Together to addresses issues around the support needs of people of Wolverhampton affected by mental health due to social isolation or other factors as a long-term consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes patients, their carers and their other family and friends.
Volunteers were invited to an event to share their personal experiences of supporting people, gain an insight into the progress of the project and enjoy lunch with others.
Alison Dowling, Associate Director of Patient Relations at RWT, said this initiative was the first time the Trust had partnered with a voluntary organisation in this way.
“We wanted to take a moment to really thank you for everything you’ve done so far,” she told the volunteers. “We really do appreciate the impact of what you do.”
Geoff Griffin, HOPE Project Volunteer Co-ordinator, said there were now 120 volunteers involved.
“We get feedback from our clients who tell us they look forward to your visits and what a big difference it makes to their lives,” he said.
“We have supported around 100 vulnerable people in Wolverhampton and who knows where they would be if you hadn’t provided that support.
From right: HOPE Volunteers Idris Azeez, Adesuwa Usonegbu, and Paul-Edmunds
Adesuwa Sandra Usonegbu, 48, is one of the volunteers and she has been in her role for six months.
She supports a widow who has been struggling with loneliness.
“We talk and we watch TV together and we learn from and support each other. She looks forward to my visits and I look forward to spending time with her.”
Paul Edmonds supports a woman whose husband has dementia.
“We have built up a good trust now and it is so lovely that she can take some time for herself when I visit to sit with her husband and have some respite as she is her husband’s main carer,” he said. “We had to build up gradually to this but now it is working well.”
Idris Azeez, like many HOPE volunteers, feels he is “giving something back” to his community through his role.
“My 11 year old son Abdul has cerebral palsy and over the years he has needed healthcare which has always been there for us – now I can return that kindness,” he said.
Idris supports a wheelchair user and has been able to accompany him outdoors as well as spend time visiting him.
“It makes him happy when I go to see him, we get on well and I feel like I’m giving something back.”
The HOPE project works alongside the city’s Social Prescribing Service, run by WVCA, to help tackle loneliness, isolation, depression and anxiety.
Sarah Harris, WVCA link worker, attended the celebration event and said: “We couldn’t do what we do without you, thank you so much.”
ENDS
- For further information, please email tina.faulkner1@nhs.net
