Together Dementia Support share a wonderful story including their planning, the positives and the negatives!
“After 17 weeks in lockdown, 2 of our members who are part of our ‘walk & talk group’ pre-covid, were able to go out on a trip in our minibus, all risk assessment & covid measures in place*
Their first trip to our regular walk & talk park since March, and their first ice cream of the year in the open air and how they enjoyed it! They marveled at the swans who had missed their regular weekly feed from the group and seemed happy to see our members- albeit a much smaller feeding session! than usual.
Safety measures:
- sanitizing when getting on & off the bus, seats wiped down, and seat covers removed after each trip.
- 1 client in front & 1 at the back of the bus (2 metre distance)
- masks worn whilst on the bus
- Walking 2 m apart round the park.
Positives
- Improved mood
- Physical exercise
- Socialising
- Reaffirming memories of the walks they used to do
- Fresh air & good old vitamin D
- Ice-cream!
Negatives
- Takes as long to plan a trip for 2 people as it does for the usual 15
- Less able to take out on a rota basis to enable all clients to go out
- Risk of low mood – going out then having to wait a long time
- Despite all Covid measures in place, ‘fears of passing on virus’ and how this may impact on the charity
