Lockdown

 

This blog is dedicated to my Granny, Mary Stella Davies. She passed away on April 26th 2020, after contracting Covid-19. Granny was 96 years old, she lived a full and wonderful life. Sadly, due to Covid, we were not able to be with her as she left us, we know she will now be at peace, hopefully with a glass of pink champagne in one hand, and with her other hand, holding my Grandad's hand. Xx  

 

March 2020 we watched the world change, helpless, shocked and often in denial, hoping that we were living a bad dream and at some point soon we would wake up, and the world would be normal again.  

Many of us were forced to stay home, whilst the rest of the country continued to support the rest of us. Our amazing key workers kept the world turning, as they risked their lives to ensure people were looked after, fed, cared for and supported.  

We watched in horror as the R number grew, and lives were lost, it was truly devastating, the single, most important thing we could do was to stay home, and we did.  

 

Snowdrop House pretty much came to a stand still, the building had been shut down and we were unable to see clients, we could only offer online sessions, which wasn't for everyone. 

The structure of Snowdrop House needed to change, whilst maintaining it's goal of making a positive difference to peoples lives. Back in 2019, we went into collaboration with a personalised gift business, with the aim of creating gifts to support mental health, along with spreading kindness. As lockdown grew longer, people were shopping more and more online, seeking small, token gifts to send to friends and loved ones. It was at that point when we realised how much we were helping people through our gifts. Our '30 days of' jars were a big hit, they include Mindfulness/Friendship/Positivity/Motivation/Love and are still selling very well. We felt a little shocked by the response, but continued to get gifts out to people over the UK, spurred on by the testimonials that were coming through "Gorgeous way to let people know you are thinking of them. I know they've made people smile and feel cared for. Just brilliant service, thank you". That was just one example of feedback, we have had many more through our Etsy and Amazon shops. 

 

The other area of Snowdrop House, that could be adapted was the exercise element, I couldn't physically get out to exercise with people, but I could reach people via Zoom. Personally, I spent a great deal of time out on beautiful runs with Theo, my dog, he couldn't have loved life more during this time, he was getting longer runs and a variety of walks, along with having us at home 24/7 at his beck and call! Being outdoors and getting that daily fix of exercise was vital for my mental and physical well-being.  

During lockdown, I worked hard and qualified in specialist exercise qualifications, including, Cancer Rehab, Pulmonary rehab, Mental Health and I'm just in the final stages of completing Obesity and Diabetes. I've always had an interest in the medical aspect of exercise rehabilitation, probably due to my background working as a specialist maxillo Facial Nurse, where I worked with head and neck cancer, and trauma patients. The aim is to help as many people living with long term health conditions as possible, physical activity doesn't have to be a chore, it can be made to be fun, enjoyable and can often have the added benefit of forming new friendships.  

 

One of the exercise groups that I work with, are for over 60's helping with Strength and Balance, for the prevention of falls, the programme is called 'Elevate'. I do this as a Project Officer through a charitable organisation called Energize STW. Energize are one of 43 Active Partnerships over England, they help to transform lives through sport and physical activity.  

When lockdown was announced, I knew that we could face weeks, if not months of physical inactivity, so I acted fast with some of the other instructors to create a 12 week 'Elevate at Home' programme for people to do in replacement of the classes that they had previously been attending. The programme was a success and went out to over 400 people in the county. Between myself and the instructors, we made weekly calls to our participants, ensuring that they had all they needed and were keeping active, so many people were desperately lonely and sad, this obviously hit us hard too, we felt helpless, however, knew that our calls were making some difference to people, and continued.  

 

Snowdrop House just like the rest of the world, is still evolving and adapting to the Covid-19 crisis, who knows where we will be this time next year, we can only hope for happier times and I'm sure we will get them.