Friday 9 March 2012

FREE COMMUNICATION TOOL


We are proud to be the first to design, develop and release an app specifically to help overcome communication difficulties.  Thank you to everyone for their contributions along the way.

COMMUNICATION TOOL

For many people the ability to communicate with those around them is hampered by conditions such as Dementia, Stroke, Brain Damage or General Ill Health. The communication tool is designed to bridge that gap. Whether you are a care giver, professional, family member or have yourself a difficulty communicating, this tool helps overcome some of this barrier.


They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and this app does just that. With over 500 possible images from which to select, communicating your needs, choices or feelings is easy. With just 3 simple taps on the screen you can choose from any of the pictures you desire. You don't have to worry about being limited to the stock images, because you can swap any image for one of your own in seconds. By creating a library of images personal to you, the app allows meaningful communication, reminiscence, memory prompts, memory exercise and more.

The uses for the app are only limited by your imagination. We hope that the frustration and isolation experienced by people with communication difficulties are replaced by experiences of inclusion, dignity and choice.

DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR FREE HERE
Nataly Wilson, Director, Social Care Alba
www.social-care.org

Thursday 1 March 2012

Healthy Working Lives - Walking Challenge

The Healthy Working Lives Team are at it again.

They are trying to keep the momentum of New Years resolutions going well into Spring.  So with the health of our staff in mind we have issued pedometers to everyone.  YES  even me :-)

They say you should be walking around 10,000 steps a day.  I can only say that I may be a little short of that target. None the less lots of staff will be carrying pedometers for the next 6 weeks.

At the end of the 6 weeks we will be taking the top 3 scores from each team and giving a prize to those who did the best.  There may even be a wooden spoon with my name on it.

Some people are taking our recent challenge even more seriously.  Sandra from the Dumfries team has signed up to a 3 mile sport relief run. If you don't fancy joining her but would like to support Sandra instead, then you can find her SPONSOR PAGE HERE..

Good luck to everyone with the 6 week challenge and of course everyone who is raising funds for good causes through SPORT RELIEF.

Participation - Recruitment

In our last Blog we talked about various ways in which you could participate in developments within the company.

So far people have helped with:

  • The recruitment of staff.
  • Feedback on the quality of staff, management and service
  • The content of our brochure
  • The content of our Service Users Booklet
  • The content of our Staff Handbook
  • The design of our Website
  • The membership of our groups
  • The annual training plan.

Our most recent request was to help us redesign our interview questions.  This saw us write out to all Service Users/Families, Staff and Participation Group members.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply.  We have taken all of your responses and have crated a new set of questions for Personal Assistant interviews.

Even if you can't manage to participate in staff interviews directly, your questions will be asked on your behalf every single time.

We hope that all of these contributions will deliver a service which is meets and exceeds your expectations.

Thank you again.

Stephen

Director