Happy New Year – 2021 Service Update
Dear Oxford Head Injury Services Friends,
We wish you a very Happy New Year and hope for a better year than we have all experienced in 2020.
Lockdown 4th January 2021: As we are all aware, the COVID-19 situation continues to threaten and if anything, the new strain of the virus offers even greater risk of transmission. In light of the latest Government directive to Lockdown (4th January 2021) we have reviewed the detail of the guidelines in relation to our service provision. As a result, we have reviewed and strengthened our risk assessments around face to face working in order to further protect you as service users and staff as employee’s.
Activity and Rehabilitation Centre: It is our intention to maintain open services until such time as government guidance dictates otherwise. Our Activity and Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) will therefore remain open for those who wish or need to utilise our support. However, we must ask you to consider whether this is essential to your wellbeing and/or that of your carer (for respite) and act accordingly. IF you are able to stay at home, we urge you to do so to limit the risk of transmission of COVID-19 but to be clear, we are here for you and the ARC will be open until further notice.
If you are attending the ARC, please ensure you have followed the instructions and risk assessments already sent to you by Oxford Head Injury Services , including wearing PPE as advised.
Alternative services. We will be maintaining our Online digital services throughout the coming months for those who wish to access them as an alternative to attending the ARC or any other OHIS service. A timetable of activities and therapies will be available via our website and/or directly through email. Links to access the zoom sessions will also be sent to all OHIS service users. Should you have any difficulties accessing the sessions, please call us on the usual numbers (see contact us page).
Our ABI Navigators will also be on hand via phone or video calls to give information and assistance where required. It is our intention to maintain our support to you by any means available to us and we encourage you to stay in contact, so that we can best support you through these difficult times.
We will also be continuing to work on behalf of those with brain injury, to ensure that as a group, your needs are not forgotten. This includes lobbying to maintain services and get access to vaccinations as soon as possible. We will keep you informed of any developments in this area as we go forward.
Kind regards,
Jamie Miller.
CEO
OHIS’s Lockdown Alternative to face to face support
As many of our service users will already know, Oxford Head Injury Services has been determined to offer support to all of our service users throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In follow up to our previous message below, we would like to clarify our offer to you if you are in isolation.
In response to the latest lockdown (January 5th 2021) we will be continuing to offer our online digital service as an alternative for those who are unable or unwilling to utilise face to face support (such as at the Activity and Rehabilitation Centre).
What is the Online digital service: This service is operational 4 days per week from Tuesday to Friday and comprises group sessions in physical exercise and an assortment of interesting and engaging positive activities every day. You can drop in and out as you please, meeting up with your OHIS friends and enjoying their company and the activities on offer.
How do I access it: These sessions are facilitated on Zoom and are accessible through the links provided once you have signed up to the service. If you wish to sign up to access the service (and you have not already heard from one of our team) you must contact us and ask us to send you the links. We will require an email address for you to send these links to. Once you have received the links, you click on them or copy and paste the link into your search bar (at the appointed session times) and this will then take you to the zoom session. If you experience any difficulty getting into the sessions via the link, please contact us and we will assist you.
Charges: For existing service users, there will be no additional charges made for this service and you are able to engage with as many sessions as you wish throughout the week. For those who are new to OHIS and are not yet formally signed up to any OHIS services, there will be a small membership fee. Please contact us directly for further information.
19/01/21 Vaccination for OHIS Service Users
Urgent – COVID – 19
It is our concern that there will be individuals that use our services, who may fail to be recognised by the system or gain access to vaccination in a timely way. If you are a current Oxford Head Injury Services service user and you have NOT been formally contacted by your GP or other government official, with a formal offer of vaccination OR formal recognition that you are recognised as being “clinically vulnerable” (as per the governments advice on priority groups) we would like to offer you our help to remedy this potential oversight.
We are collating a list of our service users (who have given their consent) and their contact details, to share with the relevant local authorities, in preparation for inclusion in the formal roll out of the vaccination of this “clinically vulnerable” group. If you would like to be added to this list, please email or call us directly as soon as possible through the usual OHIS contact details on this website.
We will update this notice as formal plans develop. In the meantime, if you DO receive either a vaccination OR appointment for a vaccination, we would greatly appreciate you informing us so that we do not needlessly duplicate work or precious resources.
