Moate volunteers helping elderly with DIY work

A new voluntary service up and running in Moate, which provides free handyman services to elderly people, is proving to be a huge success. The service is now set to be expanded into other areas of Westmeath as soon as enough volunteers come forward and receive training. 'Care & Repair', provides a pool of DIY volunteers who carry out small repairs such as changing light bulbs, fitting hand rails and cutting grass for older people over 65. Ian O"Flynn, of Westmeath Volunteer Centre, heard about the idea during the smoke break at an event last year, and thought it would be ideal for Westmeath, and in November, the Moate service got up and running. 'Currently, we have 20 volunteers in the Athlone/Moate area,' says Ian. His next priority is to get a similar service operating in Mullingar, and ideally, in other parts of the county as well - and after having 35 people sign up with the Volunteer Centre at the 'Opportunities Day' held by Westmeath Community Development at the Annebrook House Hotel in Mullingar on Thursday last, he is optimistic that start up dates for similar services in new areas could be sooner rather than later. The idea of the Care & Repair scheme came originally from the charity Age Action, and it is sponsored by Irish Life. The way it runs is that one person in an area takes the calls from those who need a handyman"s services, and gets one of the volunteers to call to the elderly person"s home and carry out that work - all for free. All those who become involved in the scheme as volunteers, are vetted carefully before the Volunteer Centre is willing to take them on board, and they undergo training as well. The volunteers don"t have to be people with an expertise in any field, stresses Ian: they just have to be 'handy' enough to do some small tasks, such as changing a lightbulb, mowing a lawn or whatever. Ian stresses that the intention is not to take work away from professional tradespeople who are trying to earn a living in what are hard times all round. 'These are just basic DIY jobs: plumbing a washing machine, changing a lock, or putting in a chain lock or a battery-powered smoke alarm,' he says. 'If anything bigger needs doing, we can contact trustworthy tradespeople on behalf of the elderly person,' he says, adding that in such instances, the client would, obviously, have to pay for the tradesperson"s services - although they would have the comfort of knowing that the person was trustworthy and highly recommended. With as few as four volunteers, such services could operate in smaller parishes/villages. To date, there have been about 35 calls made to the volunteers in the Moate area, so the service is not hugely demanding on the time of the volunteers. Anyone interested in accessing "Care & Repair" or who would like to learn more about providing the service in their area on should low call 1890 369 369, check out www.ageaction.ie or email sean.silke@ageaction.ie; alternatively, they can contact the Westmeath Volunteer Centre - located at Presentation House, Mullingar - directly, on 044-9348571, or by emailing ioflynn@westcd.ie, or by visiting www.volunteerwestemeath.ie.