Kenny Lang, a Local Area Co-ordinator with the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, recently had to ‘think outside the box’ about how to support one of his families to help reduce social isolation during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

Normally his team are able to support and introduce service users to the local opportunities in their communities on a face-to-face basis. Given the current situation Kenny volunteered to go above and beyond to help find a solution to support one of his families whose two sons both have learning disabilities.

Kenny explains: “Some of our service users don’t have access to the necessary equipment to stay connected whilst staying safe at home. So we needed to think about how we could support them remotely. Working with two of the organisations my team link in with, I have been able to source an iPad to enable this whole family to feel less isolated at this time. It will be fantastic for the parents to be able to take part in virtual activities and for their sons to link into online meet ups, quiz sessions and other supported fun activities for individuals with a learning disability.

“The family are so appreciative and excited about how this will change their day-to-day activity and support their mental wellbeing. I have arranged for the relevant software to be pre-loaded and will support the family to get connected when it is delivered, whilst adhering to physical distancing. They are really looking forward to taking part in the daytime discos!”

The family told us: “It’s so boring sitting in the house doing nothing all day. It’s great Kenny has been able to get us an iPad and it will help us all to get online and join in on some fun activities. We are looking forward to speaking to different people and having a bit of fun too, thanks very much Kenny.”

Thank you Kenny for looking at a different and innovative way to find a solution to help support our service users.