05 Jul Senator Mary White Launches Applewood Community Information Clinics

Senator Mary White launched the Applewood Community Information Clinics last Friday,June 28th, in the Terenure Enterprise Centre.

Senator White spoke about some of the issues older people currently encounter in Ireland and Neil O’Reilly of Applewood Homecare spoke about how we all have a role have to play in making local communities more age friendly. Several family members of our service users, local businesses and  local GP’s all joined us in the Enterprise Centre to launch this new free service.

About The Community Information Clinics

The idea of the  Community Information Clinics came about based on our experience working with the over 65’s locally and from feedback from our service users.

Finding yourself in a situation where you are solely responsible for caring for a loved one at home can often be an overwhelming and sometimes frightening experience. There are supports available but often accessing these supports can be difficult and often the information is not available in a suitable format.

According to the 2011 Census, internet usage among the over 65 population is on the increase however there remains over 300,000 older people in Ireland with no access to the internet. Yet helplines and information phone numbers of state services now direct people to websites for further information or to download forms.

Applewood Community Information Clinics are there to assist people in sourcing information relevant to their situation be that information on revenue or grants available or letting them know about support groups and meetings. We are not there to advise people just to help them source any information that might help in their specific situation.

For example, sourcing information, about; grants and applications, medical cards, pensions, local support groups, home security and providing that information in a suitable format.

Applewood Community Information Clinic Times and Location

The Information clinics will take place twice a month in the Terenure Enterprise Centre on the 1st and 3rd Weds of every month from 11am-12.30pm . No appointment is necessary, this is a completely free service and is open to anybody over 65 or anybody caring for a loved one at home. We hope to bring the Information Clinics to other local communities throughout 2013 .

Thank you to everybody who joined us at the launch last weekend and we appreciate all help in spreading the word on this free service. If you require any further information please get in touch.