Covid 19 & keeping in touch

Friendship Dogs by FaceTime!

We had to suspend visiting activities for elderly dog lovers on the 17th of March; all bar one placement where the lady was already at the end of her life and we agreed with the NHS that we had to carry on.

Despite this very unwelcome interruption, we have continued to process applications and at mid May, amazingly we have 401 Visiting Wag Teams, ready and waiting and all regularly keeping in touch with their elderly friends at this difficult time.

We’re inspired every day by the lengths the Wag & Company volunteers are going to to keep in touch with their elderly friends; regular phone or video calls, postcards, pictures, letters, newsletters, photo books, shopping, sending gifts and even specially commissioned art works of their Friendship Dogs; here’s our Bruce FaceTiming his friends at Kirkwood Court Care Home in Newcastle; amazing truly!

Our ‘Wag thinking of you’ postcard went to almost 2500 friends across the region, at home or in care and they loved it! We wanted to make sure they realised why we weren’t visiting and they didn’t think we’d forgotten them.

But time’s dragging on, particularly for those people who are alone in their own homes.

So we think it’s important to keep sending them little reminders that they’re not forgotten, we’re all thinking about them and we’re coming back; before too long hopefully!

Our Cake Appeal, raised over £1300 and enabled us to send this group at home a special cake treat in early May, with online baker Meg Rivers agreeing to discount their rate to bake and despatch some gorgeous lemon drizzle tray bakes. Enough for one a day for a week.

As time continues to elapse, we are continuously thinking up new and interesting ways to keep people’s spirits up and to keep our volunteers motivated and focussed on supporting a ‘new normal’! Maybe a calendar in July?

These are sad times but these little things can really help.