A Shrewsbury based care company is raising awareness of the dangers of falling for elderly and vulnerable people by holding a jam-packed community drop-in tea party with a host of experts on hand.

Bluebird Care, which offers a professional home care service enabling clients to stay in their own homes and live as independently as possible, will also be taking the tea party to clients around the county who can’t make it with their own goody bags and information leaflets.

The event on Wednesday, June 19 will be held at Bluebird Care’s head office in Bayston Hill from 11am to 4pm and is part of national Falls Awareness Week from June 17-21, this year called ‘Best Foot Forward’ run by Age UK. Ian Barnes, Director of Bluebird Care Shropshire, which looks after people in Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Oswestry and the surrounding areas , said: “Our service is available to any adult or elderly person who needs assistance with everyday tasks.

We feel passionately about things that can affect the people in our care and falls can be very serious and even fatal to some of these people. “A lot of our customers have a higher risk of falls and part of the thorough training undertaken by our care staff is to check for hazards in the homes of our clients as an initial assessment, looking at key things such as uneven surfaces, threadbare carpets, trailing cables etc.

We also give advice on footwear as unsuitable slippers, for example, can be a huge hazard. “We regularly see clients shaken up by falls and our staff will spend extra time with them or alert family or extra help if necessary. It can be very scary for people, especially if they fall when on their own or at night.

One of the key things is to make sure the person has a pendant alarm so if they have a fall late at night they can raise the alarm for help and we will be talking about those.” A host of speakers have also been invited to talk at the event with moving and handling demonstrations from Bluebird Care staff and advice on hazards.

A sister from the Beeches clinic will be on hand to check blood pressure as high blood pressure has been linked to falling, Helen Jowitt, a Bluebird Carer who also works at Rowlands Pharmacy in Bayston Hill will be offering free advice and blood pressure check.

Jenny’s Catering sill be supplying the food, crockery and tea stands and Hope Fox another of our Carers who has worked with Celebrity Chef Marcus Waring will be baking cakes to cater for all dietary needs. Jon & Diane Tandy, the new Mayor and Mayoress of Shrewsbury will be attending the event as well as the local councillor for Bayston Hill, Councillor Ted Clarke.

Karen Jenkins, Bluebird Human Resources Manager, said: “We will be taking clients who can’t make it to the event a cup cake and information about falls awareness by the end of the week so they will still feel a part of the event.”

Daniel Kawczynski MP said, who is supporting the event, said: “I am pleased that Bluebird Care Shropshire are running this awareness event.

"Many people choose to remain in their own home because of the sense of independence that it gives them and a serious fall can mean that that independence is taken away. To inform people of how they can safeguard themselves is essential and I applaud the work of this organisation who work hard to protect the elderly and vulnerable.”

For more information, please call Bluebird Care on 01743 874343, email Shropshire@bluebirdcare.co.uk or visit www.bluebirdcare.co.uk/shropshire. For more information on Falls Awareness Week, please visit www.ageuk.org.uk

By Catherine Roche.