Joyce’s granddaughter had arranged for friendship calls as she was worried her Nan was not getting enough stimulation. Joyce is 93 years old and lives alone, prior to lockdown she would get on the bus most days. Although Joyce did agree to the friendship calls, when I spoke to her granddaughter prior to ringing Joyce, she did say that her Nan is very independent and will either embrace the call or not want to speak to me as she is not a person for talking to strangers.
Joyce certainly embraced our call. We spent nearly 50 minutes chatting, Joyce told me all about her life and family and she also asked about mine. Following this call, I rang her granddaughter to let her know how it went and she was delighted that her Nan was willing to talk to me and that we had spoken for so long.
Since that day I have spoken to Joyce every week, sometimes twice a week, we always have a lovely chat and spend about an hour on the phone, we could talk for much longer too. Joyce really looks forwards to my calls, our chat is always very general, and Joyce is always very positive and never complains. I also enjoy chatting to Joyce, she is a remarkable woman. I have spoken to her granddaughter a couple of times since the referral and she told me that her Nan talks about me, about how lovely I am and how she looks forward to my weekly call, which is lovely to hear.
I think Joyce is a great example of a pure friendship call and how well these can work and the benefit they can have. My calls to Joyce are really making a difference.