For the second year running, Medequip has signed up for a corporate Gold Friendship with Ipswich Town Foundation, the charitable arm of Ipswich Town Football Club. Relaunched in 2019 this dynamic Foundation works across the community, empowering and inspiring to bring about positive and inclusive changes to people’s lives.
Currently managing diverse and innovative schemes across Suffolk, an enormous amount of work is done by the Foundation with a broad local reach. From disability and social inclusion sports to sport for seniors, youth engagement, activities and pathways for young teens to divert them away from drug and knife crime, fun activities and courses for young people of all ages and abilities through to dementia cafés and meals for kids in school holidays, the Foundation continues to support people in need in the local community.
This year, Medequip has had the opportunity to provide practical as well as financial support, attending the Foundation’s Golden Days dementia café events which aim to provide a welcoming and safe space for people living with dementia as well as their families, carers and those who have lost loved ones to dementia.
Andrea Clifton, Account Manager at Medequip’s Suffolk depot, explained the importance of the dementia cafés, held in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. “More than 90 people attended the cafés in one month alone,” she said. “It’s a warm and welcoming environment providing refreshments as well as activities like singing, bingo, arts and crafts as well as gentle and beneficial chair-based exercises. Medequip personnel are able to provide professional support in the shape of checks for wheelchairs, walking sticks, walking frames and replacement ferrules.”
The infrastructure, scope and organisation of the Foundation’s work make it an excellent fit for Medequip’s established community engagement programme, supporting charities and providing active involvement through the company’s staff volunteering scheme.
For more information on the work of the Foundation, visit www.itfcfoundation.co.uk