Age needs one voice. Now it has:
Age NI is the new force combining Age Concern Northern Ireland and
Help the Aged in Northern Ireland. Age NI is a member of the Age UK family.
The new force combining &
Age NI's First Connect service offers dedicated emotional and practical support at difficult times in an individual’s life; situations which are often triggered by feeling the loss of independence or sudden unexpected changes in important relationships.
Times like these can impact on a person’s sense of control, self confidence or self esteem and quality of life. Through First Connect we are there to support older people and help them make sense of what is happening in their lives and to support them to make choices and access new opportunities and services that they consider best enhances and sustains their wellbeing and independence. We believe this approach will support older people to remain independent in their own homes and communities.
'We provide emotional and practical support to older people at a really difficult time in their lives.
'When we receive a referral we visit the person in their own home, and we’ll undertake a holistic assessment to decide how best we can support them.
'We tailor our support for each individual’s needs. The person might be isolated, or might need help with washing and dressing. We make sure they have the full benefit and pension they’re entitled to We’ll also look at any support they might need with transport, safety and security.
'Often this is the first time the older person has ever needed to ask for support. It’s a very humbling thing for them to let a First Connect coordinator go into their home.
'We try to keep people out of the care system, at home, for as long as we can. We get around 50 new referrals every month.
'This job is so rewarding. The feedback we receive is lovely: from clients, families and even other professionals. I absolutely love my job, and all the coordinators are passionate about it too.'
Naomi Spratt First Connect Coordinator for Age NI
For further information or to make a referral to the First Connect service contact Age NI: Freephone 0808 808 7575
First Connect leaflet (PDF 257KB)
First Connect leaflet - large text version (PDF 1MB)
Age NI visited Bill and were shocked to see the condition he was living in. The victim of an aggressive robbery, he was very alone and very frightened.
www.ageni.org/firstconnect
Set your location to see what Age NI offers in your local area.
Guides and factsheets aimed to keep you informed about issues surrounding home and care.
Download and share our Community Care factsheets.
Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have got their computer set up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
Advice from NI Direct government services on support and safety in your home.
The Warm Homes scheme is funded by the Department for Social Development, to make your home warmer, healthier and more energy efficient.
Sign up for our email newsletter.
Set the appearance of this website so you can read it more easily
To see information relating to England, Scotland or Wales set your preference below: