Charity teams up with Housing Trust to protect vulnerable older people

Local charity Age UK Cheshire East has been working with the Johnnie Johnson Housing over the last few months to improve the lives of older people.

Through its Older Persons Scams Awareness Project, the charity has been raising awareness of online scams and doorstep crime, something that disproportionately impacts on older people.  Johnnie Johnson Housing supports over 7,000 people to find safe and secure social housing. The not-for-profit organisation has been circulating copies of the Project’s monthly bulletins to many of its Housing Managers, in locations across England, to help raise awareness and protect their older residents.  They will also be including a scam awareness article in their resident magazine, Voices, which will be available to all Johnnie Johnson Housing residents this November.

Kathryn Fox-Rogers, Director of Homes and Services, at Johnnie Johnson Housing, said: “Johnnie Johnson Housing are proud to support Age UK Cheshire East and the important work they are doing to protect older people from scams and doorstep crime. It is important to us that our colleagues and residents know that support is available and we look forward to working with Age UK Cheshire East on future campaigns.”

Building on this relationship, Johnnie Johnson has recently donated to the charity 100 branded facemasks, which the charity has distributed to its 24 Home Helps for them to use when working in 160 older peoples’ homes across Cheshire East. The washable masks have proved invaluable to the charity’s staff, as they need to work in a Covid safe way as so many of their clients are elderly and vulnerable.

Joanne Fishwick, who manages the Help at Home service at Age UK Cheshire East commented “These masks have proven really popular with our home helps, who have said they are light and comfortable, something which is really important when doing a physical job like theirs.  We are really grateful to Johnnie Johnson in supplying the masks which enable us to work safely with so many vulnerable older people.”

The Help at Home service is available to any older person in Cheshire East who needs some extra help around the House.  The Scams Awareness Project is also available to any older person who is worried about being a victim of a scam or has been a victim. To access any services provided by the Charity, people need to call 01625 612958. 

Our charity’s mission is to ‘improve later life for people in Cheshire East’. In 2018, it celebrated its 30^th anniversary, having provided help and support to many thousands of older people in Cheshire East since its formation back in 1988.