NEW LOCATION FOR CARE LOCHABER Alison Kane Care Lochaber has enjoyed a brilliant start in its new office in what was the old job centre at the West End of the High Street. It is great seeing people passing our window, some of them popping in to see what is going on. We are now back to offering a full service with all our volunteers ready to help anyone that cannot get on a bus or access a bus route, whether they be elderly, disabled, have mental health issues or learning disabilities. Our volunteers take clients to any medical appointments they may have, like doctor, nurse, or dentist and also take them to any clinics at the medical centre like podiatrist. We also take a lot of our service users to the lunch club and other community gatherings. We can also take people to do their shopping and back again, saving them trying to get on and off a bus, and offer assisted shopping for anyone not able to do it themselves. Our volunteer would help to choose items at the supermarket and bag up goods as well as picking up the client, help get them into a wheelchair or mobility scooter
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and go around the shop or supermarket with them. They would then take them home and take their bags into the house. There is £5 fee in and around Fort William, which is for the return journey. There are also volunteer drivers in Ballachulish and Onich to help people in
that area, with Spean Bridge and Roy Bridge also in our catchment area. Our volunteers are mostly retired who give up their free time, enabling us to continue this great service. They are out every day in all weathers and we couldn’t provide this service without them. Our service users really appreciate the volunteers and love chatting to them in the car. Many may have not had much contact with other people and this gives them a chance to get out of the house, go to their appointment and have some social contact.
Care Lochaber also runs monthly events which have included lunches at the Moorings Hotel, afternoon tea at various places around Fort William, a visit to the garden centre at Appin and the pantomime at Eden Court. The Covid pandemic stopped these but we are keen to get started again and are planning our first one for next month. These events are funded so we do not charge for these. Even the car to pick you up and take you home would be free. The building is also home to Lochaber Hope, the New Connections Hub and hosts a pop-up Vintage Café run by the Montrose Centre every Wednesday and Friday. It also has space for various groups to use. Please pop in and visit us here and have a cuppa and a chat. Our phone number to book a car with the car scheme is 01397 701222. Allison or Laura will take your call. Our volunteers are amazing and do a great job, but we are always looking to recruit new ones. We don’t have any women volunteers at the moment so if there is anyone out there that can spare a few hours per week please get in touch. We pay your expenses.
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