Vale of Glamorgan scheme wins social change award
A scheme aiming to improve the quality of life, warmth and
comfort of vulnerable people in Vale of Glamorgan has won a
prestigious Directory of Social Change national award.
Health Through Warmth (HTW) is run in partnership by the utility
company, npower, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council.
The Directory of Social Change is the largest provider of
information and training for the voluntary and community sectors,
and the inaugural Investing in Social Change award presented to HTW
is in recognition of the hard work of indivduals involved in the
scheme.
Through HTW, community workers, including nurses, health
visitors, occupational therapists, police and firefighters, are
trained to refer vulnerable people whose health is adversely
affected by living in cold, damp homes to the scheme. A local
co-ordinator then looks for grants or other funds to install
appropriate heating and insulation measures into homes to make them
warmer and more comfortable.
Anyone living in Vale, with a cold, damp related illness, can be
referred to the scheme, and they don’t have to be an npower
customer. Vulnerable people are often the least likely to ask for
help but, by linking up with community workers, they can be quickly
identified and referred to the scheme.
Cllr Val Hartrey, cabinet member for legal and public
protection, said: “I’m delighted that Health Through Warmth has won
this prestigious award especially as the awards were voted for by
the charity sector and the general public. I would to like to thank
everyone involved for helping to make the scheme a great
success.”
Since its launch in the Vale in 2001, the scheme has trained
more than 800 individuals who have referred some 1,300 people. HTW
has accessed over £1.4m of grants and other funds, including
£70,000 from the unique npower Health Through Warmth Crisis
Fund.
For further information on the scheme, please contact Sarah
Powell, the Vale HTW co-ordinator, on (01446) 709847.
Caption: Celebrating the national award for the
Health Through Warmth scheme are, from left: Janet Salter (Care and
Repair), Anne Phillips (Vale Local Public Health Team), Paul
Hodgkinson (South East Wales Energy Agency), Cllr Val Hartrey (Vale
cabinet member for legal and public protection), Cllr Maureen
Kelly-Owen, David Powell (Vale energy manager), Sarah Powell
(Health Through Warmth co-ordinator), Nikki Cush (npower Health
Through Warmth area project manager), and Margaret Reid (health and
social care facilitator).