Elderly Persons Project / ‘Buddy a Granny’
Elderly Persons Project
GUSRC provides opportunities for volunteers to work in a variety of roles with elderly people in Glasgow. These roles can range from helping out at lunch clubs to slightly more challenging work in Dementia Units, so whatever your reasons for getting involved, there are plenty of opportunities to offer a friendly ear and some company to residents in the local community.
Volunteers with these projects should keep in mind that it will not be your job to act as a carer. Your role will primarily be to give up some of your time to provide company to residents. You’ll probably learn a lot too.
Of course, ‘helping the elderly’ is a general phrase and you may be involved in a variety of activities depending on what you choose to do. At no point will you be expected to care or look after any residents, as that’s the job of paid staff. You’ll be taking part in activities that the care homes run or helping with trips that they have arranged for their residents.
Volunteering your time in a care home
GUSRC offers GU students the opportunity to volunteer in a local care home. As with all our projects, you will not act as a carer, but will simply give up your time to visit a local care home, meeting with residents and working with staff. Most placements require a minimum commitment of one hour per week, for around ten weeks.
Nursing Homes and Sheltered Housing
GUSRC have developed a partnership with Bield Housing and Care which gives you the chance to volunteer in a number of roles with them, ranging from helping as a befriender in their sheltered housing complexes to helping out with residential and nursing dementia homes.
’We all want to be free to do the things we love and which bring us fulfilment and enjoyment. Our vision is for a Scotland where people of all ages are respected, can make their own choices and are able to lead independent and fulfilling lives.’
Forget Me Not
This is for students looking for something a bit more challenging and who are able to visit someone in a care home or hospital and brighten their day. We’ve teamed up with Alzheimer Scotland to give students three half day sessions of group training on how to relate to the person rather than their illness followed by a placement in a care home or hospital for, on average, two hours a week to befriend a person with dementia. Training is provided by Alzheimer Scotland for this project.
Wing Hong Elderly Centre
We have teamed up with the Wing Hong Elderly Centre in Garnethill to offer befriending to those who attend this day centre. The centre is mainly for elderly Chinese residents who take part in games, exercises and a lunch club. Volunteers can go along for a morning or afternoon each week.
Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme
The SRC are required to ask all students who will go on to work with children under the age of 18 or vulnerable adults to become members of Disclosure Scotland’s PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) Scheme. You can collect an application form from the SVSS Coordinator on the first floor of the John McIntyre Building, or from the GUSRC Welcome Point on the ground floor.
You will also be required to complete a volunteer application form, depending on which project you wish to work with. For more information, email the Student Volunteer Support Service Coordinator: volunteer@src.gla.ac.uk