Improving life around the home via the web
A new interactive scheme which provides online support so older and disabled people can improve their lives around the home has been launched in Warwickshire.
Warwickshire Accessible Housing has set up a social networking website to bring customers together and provide access to its housing adaptations scheme.
This means residents can communicate online to occupational therapists and to people who have made improvements to their homes to help them live independently.
The Warwickshire Accessible Housing Partnership is a joint initiative between customers, the County, District and Borough Councils, and NHS Warwickshire. It provides adaptations such as ramps, stairlifts or accessible bathrooms, which can transform a person’s life, helping them to live as independently as possible in a safe home environment.
Twenty-five year-old Neil Hancock, an actor from Stratford-upon-Avon, is one of the many people who has benefited from the Warwickshire Accessible Housing Partnership scheme. Neil is a wheelchair user and, as a result of his disability, his parents were forced to physically carry him upstairs any time he wanted to go to his room.
Neil said the social networking site would have been a valuable resource when he was preparing for adaptations to his home six years ago. He said: "I only wish that a site like this had been around for me and my parents when we looked into this very thing."
The WAH Partnership was able to adapt Neil’s property so that a bedroom and bathroom were provided and he now has access to the garden.
Neil said: “The ground floor extension has had a major impact on my life and has given me greater independence and dignity.”
The new website http://www.warwickshireaccessiblehousing.ning.com uses a social networking platform to provide essential information and to allow users to interact with each other to create a supportive environment.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Housing adaptations bring huge benefits by giving people more freedom in their own homes. But before embarking on any changes to the home, customers wanted a way of communicating with each other and the professionals involved. The new social networking site is helping customers connect with each other as well as improving access to our services.”
For more information log onto http://www.warwickshireaccessiblehousing.ning.com or telephone 01926 410 410.
If you need improvements and adaptations to your home to help you continue to live independently there, you can ask the social services department to do an assessment of your home.