Our team have been working tirelessly to maintain contact and help our most vulnerable customers stay as active as possible during this pandemic.

NERS team supporting referrals during the pandemic

Acutely aware of the increased risks to our referral clients due to the pandemic and in being ‘locked down’ our NERS team have worked tirelessly to maintain contact and help clients stay as active as possible in a safe and appropriate way. To date the team have made 5221 phone calls, created 683 home programmes, and pre-recorded 5 On Demand sessions, which our referral clients can access via the Actif Website (currently 2,893 views of this content). In November we started live streaming NERS exit route sessions via Actif Anywhere and have since introduced 8 NERS sessions per week with over 500 attendances to date. We plan on increasing the number of digital sessions further in the coming weeks aiming to maintain and improve good health.

Customer comments on the digital sessions:

“I am very appreciative of the new live streaming classes.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and I was happy to have human interaction again.  I had to have a little help with the computer side of things but I’m happy to keep going and learning how to do new things.  I am so grateful for everything you are all doing in looking after us all”

“Since doing the exercises in the class as well as the home programme, I am now able to walk a little bit around the house without my crutches. I was told I would never do this, so this is a big achievement for me. I am ever so grateful for your help and support.”

“I am so happy that I joined the NERS scheme, it really has benefited me.  I walk most days and I have also been following the Otago full exercise program.  Your calls have been so important, myself and my husband look forward to the next call.  I have been telling my friends about the NERS scheme telling them that they must get referred”

Proactive Falls Prevention Programme

We are currently working to secure funding to develop an evidenced based 32-week Proactive Falls Prevention Rehabilitation Programme that will bridge the gap between Health and Leisure services. The program will offer individuals ‘at risk of falling, or having fallen’ the opportunity to access evidenced based exercises to improve their strength and balance.

We will be partnering with key health partners that include Delta Wellbeing (Connect project), physiotherapy, dietetics, pharmacy, Podiatry, care & repair, fire service, etc. The programme will incorporate an education component that will provide invaluable support, knowledge, and guidance to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The exercise and education component will both be delivered digitally allowing us to expand our reach into people’s homes to reduce loneliness and social isolation during this very challenging time.