To help improve our mental and physical health, prevent people going into crisis and increase life chances and opportunities across our community Healthier Sheringham has developed as a partnership.
“Healthier Sheringham came about just over a year ago as a result of the community support organisations working together collaboratively through COVID. The idea behind it is to bring all the community organisations and social groups in the town together to collaborate to support the community and improve health and well-being. There are over 250 organisations in the town providing support, activity and the opportunity to meet with others. The problem is lots of people don’t know about them or cant access them so sit at home lonely and inactive and sometimes facing difficult challenges such as getting shopping and having contact with others. By working together we can make sure people can access these great community resources, we are not duplicating, we can share and pool resources and won’t be wasting our scarce resources. By working together we can help people to help themselves, prevent crisis and reduce health problems across the community. It also helps to make our community stronger and more resilient.” Cllr Withington Lead and instigator of HS
A number of organisations have been working in partnership with Healthier Sheringham for a year now District Cllrs, the Salvation Army, The Lighthouse, St. Peters Church St. Andrews Church, Sheringham Dementia Friendly Community, Sheringham Community Support, Sheringham Medical Practice, the Patient Participation Group, Parish Nurse, Age Concern NN, Norfolk Carers Association, Playing For Cake Norfolk Coastal Fitness. HS also liaises with Active Norfolk, the Integrated Care board, the Clinical Networks and Mind, the Social Prescribing Teams at NNDC and the Community Connectors.
Janet Eastwood Chair of Sheringham Dementia Friendly Community commented that Pooling resources is a great benefit for the community. HS as a partnership and through Sheringham Dementia Friendly Community obtained funding from Tesco to produce a directory of all the practical support that is in the town such as the Bathing service and Meals on Heels that is available at Age Concern North Norfolk as well as all the activity based and social groups and drop in cafes and lunch clubs.” From work that Sheringham community Support have done it is clear that for many it is vital that paper copies are delivered to homes so this directory will be delivered across the town as well as being available electronically for organisations to access.
To develop the partnership further and the directory, HS are holding two community Connection Days. The first was on the 24th October is for those organisations or groups in the community who provide practical support such as shopping volunteers, bathing services, drop in lunches or community lunches, support with paper work – all those tasks which help people to stay independent in their own homes for longer. The second day is for all our community groups who provide activities, health and fitness opportunities, social activities crafting, musical opportunities etc. Healthier Sheringham would love to see as many groups and organisations there as possible to help the community work more closely together and support the health and well being of our residents in the broadest sense. Both days will take place at Age Concern North Norfolk, Cremer Street, Sheringham from 10.30-12.30 Please email healthiersheringham@gmail.com to confirm you are coming.
HS also is a means for partners to highlight good practice across groups and share but importantly highlight common issues which are affecting the community and residents. HS is a means to voice those concerns and bring about positive change for the community. Liz Withington reported that “ There are currently significant concern across the partnership about how long it is taking for social service assessments to be completed. This means carers are often having to manage alone and without support. The outcome being often the family goes into crisis or a carer becomes seriously ill themselves. As a partnership we are now raising this as a concern, along with the fact that Norfolk County council no longer enable access to the Social Service Team by telephone making it even more problematic for carers in challenging circumstances to get the help they need. “
Anneliese Maerz also points out that “delays in assessment mean that people are not able to access the care they need when they live alone such as Day Centres and this has a knock on effect on care providers as they don’t have sustainable numbers getting through the assessment process. Care becomes accessible only to those who can afford to pay for it independently. “
Warm Spaces for All – Sheringham is a project which has also grown out of the Healthier Sheringham Partnership. Partners have come together to develop a stragey for providing warm spaces for all in our community as we move closer to what will be possibly the most challenging winter people have faced. The next meeting for this is on the Thursday 27th October at the REEF Leisure Centre who are part of the partnership. Anyone with a venue that would like to be part of this, or is part of an organisation who can support with activities or volunteers is welcome to attend this event. Businesses who would also like to be involved as well in supporting the provision of warm spaces for those who are perhaps working from home. There will also be opportunities for sponsorship of events and proposed websites and social media pages. Again if you would like to know more or be involved please get in touch via healthiersheringham@gmail.com
Coming up partners have identified the need to build the volunteer base in the community and will be holding a Volunteer Market for the town in the Spring followed by a Community group/organisation network event in the Spring and a Health and Wellbeing Festival linked to the Sheringham Walking Festival. There are lots of opportunities for people and groups to get involved and support the health and wellbeing of our residents from inside the town rather than it being done to us by external bodies. Together we are stronger.
