Hampshire’s Countryside Service rangers come to the rescue

8 January 2010

With some social care staff temporarily hampered by the snow themselves, contractors, voluntary groups and staff from across the full range of County Council services have combined forces to check on vulnerable groups and help out wherever they can.

Directed by the social care teams, rangers from Hampshire’s Countryside Service have used their muscle power and 4x4 vehicles to get through to some of the most inaccessible areas with our contractors to deliver hot meals to the elderly and get key staff to work. Elderly people in Basingstoke and other areas got some of their meals on wheels in this way and another of the teams followed the snow plough around the county and reported back on roads opened. They also helped to cut back and remove some of the 70 fallen or dangerous roadside trees.

The Countryside Service's Titchfield Haven Team are collecting some of the operators who staff the County Council’s Contact Centre in Fareham – the first port of call for people wanting to get in touch with the County Council. The council normally receives about 2 million enquiries a year and during this latest period of severe weather, calls have risen significantly from people wanting information about roads, school closures, social care and how to register births, deaths and marriages.

Some of the most heart-warming stories have come from the teams of social care staff and the care companies that Hampshire County Council contracts to look after the 95,000 vulnerable and elderly people that receive our care services.

Commenting on the way everyone has pulled together Councillor Ken Thornber, the Leader of Hampshire County Council said:

“I am so proud and have been deeply touched by the extraordinary lengths our staff and contactors have gone to help those in need. I’ve heard about residential care home staff who took hours to get home themselves after working long shifts only to turn round after less than four hours in bed to head back. Family members, who after dropping off their partners at work, rolled up their sleeves and used shovels to help clear car parks and then served residents with hot drinks all day. A cook who is 70 years old herself and spent over an hour defrosting her car to get in from Portsmouth so the residents got a hot meal and a colleague who walked five miles to get to work.

Our home care staff have gone to great lengths to make sure the people they visit are safe at home. One of our agencies commandeered a 4x4 vehicle so they could take food and check on a sick woman who lived in a mobile home in the middle of a remote field. And another care worker went on foot in treacherous conditions to collect and deliver antibiotics to a 93 year old man who had a bad chest infection.

“Hampshire is pulling together in these difficult times with neighbours, family members and carers going the extra mile to make sure the vulnerable and elderly are safe and warm. These are the unsung heroes and heroines who are indeed the salt of the earth.”