During the first lockdown SMART Cranleigh formed a relationship with Surrey Hills Rehab (SHR) who are a Rehabilitation team running Physiotherapy led exercise and peer support sessions for people with Neurological Conditions in Cranleigh.
Two new initiatives have started to support people both relating to falls prevention and Long Covid rehabilitation arising from the pandemic. The Long Covid project is showing life-changing results for local people who have been part of the programme. Long-COVID is a post-viral illness that can affect survivors of COVID-19, regardless of initial disease severity or age. The most common symptoms include (but are not limited to) are fatigue and breathlessness but there are many others affecting different parts of the body which can lead to disabling and long-term conditions.
Working with SMART Cranleigh and Active Surrey, Surrey Hills Rehab gained a small grant to support these people. New learning has shown that quite different approaches to traditional exercise-based approaches are needed with the support of different therapy specialists principally from physiotherapy and occupational therapy, working hand in glove with the people suffering from this debilitating condition, listening carefully to individual stories, and providing assessment, monitoring, treatment with peer support. This is a holistic approach that addresses home, work and lifestyle needs in order to get them back on track and prevent serious long-term effects. The case studies show the importance of these proactive targeted treatment approaches.
A small falls prevention project has just started and has been able to adapt to include more people experiencing loss of confidence due to their balance and may have a fear of falling as they come out of lockdown. This has been oversubscribed. Lets hope we can get further funding for this effective and efficient approach going forwards.
