Caroline has been receiving the befriending phone calls since September 2022. She has long covid which has left her with brain fog, reduced mobility, and anxiety. It has also exacerbated her COPD. She lives with her adult daughter who has mental health issues. Caroline said she felt she didn’t want to ‘burden’ her daughter with her problems.
On her referral it was stated that Caroline used to be an avid reader, when she was asked about what hobbies and interests, she had she said that reading has always been a passion but due to Covid she hasn’t been able to get any new books, so her main passion in life had come to a grinding halt. This made a significant impact on her life. After some googling I found out that RMBC runs a delivery service with the libraries in the area which is run by a lovely lady called Debra.
After speaking with Debra who runs this service. We were able to organise the mobile library coming to Caroline’s house with a selection of books covering a wide genre.
After she had received the books, her volunteer said how much of a difference there was in her tone of voice, and she seemed to have rekindled her interests in life. Caroline said she had about 15 books to keep her occupied which should last “about a week”.
Caroline was so flattered with the fact we went the extra step to help her, and now we are working closely with Debra at library services who will be referring people to the befriending calls and any of our participants who can no longer access books are being referred to her.
“Having the calls from RotherFed is really useful as I am able to express myself freely without causing my daughter who lives with mw undue concerns as I know she worries.”