Taking Care, the UK’s largest private provider of personal alarm services, has announced a new partnership with the RAF Benevolent Fund. The partnership will see Taking Care donating a portion of alarm sales made via the RAF Benevolent Fund page on Taking Care’s website to the Charity, in order to provide more veterans the freedom and security to remain in the homes they love.
Taking Care, a subsidiary of AXA Health, has been helping people maintain their independence for over 30 years, providing a range of life-saving personal alarms that are monitored 24/7 by their highly trained Emergency Resolution Team. Many of the company’s customers are armed forces veterans whose lives have been enhanced with the reassurance a personal alarm has given them. Fitting with its ethos and values, Taking Care wanted to give back to the men and women who served our country and to ensure veterans and their families had the peace of mind and the quality of life they deserved.
One such customer is 99-year-old, retired Squadron Leader A. Garretts MBE who had an impressive and varied 30-year career in the RAF. Mr Garretts first got an alarm from Taking Care when his wife became unwell some years ago. The alarm gave him and his family peace of mind that help was always available when needed and allowed Mr Garretts to pop to the shops without the fear of leaving his wife alone. When Mr Garretts’ wife sadly passed away, he took over wearing the personal alarm in order to stop his children worrying about him living alone. Mr Garretts is still very active and so his alarm gives him great reassurance that he can get help when he needs it, leaving him to continue doing the things he loves such as marquetry, gardening and socialising at the local senior citizen’s club.
Mr Garretts said:
“My wife was rather ill during the last years of her life and when I went out she wore the alarm because I didn’t want to leave her alone without some sort of connection. My wife died five years ago and I’ve been wearing it ever since – I think it’s a good idea because if I fell over here and the alarm went, the lady next door is a retired nurse and she’s the first to be contacted.”
The RAF Benevolent Fund (a registered charity in England and Wales no: 1081009 and in Scotland no: SC038109) will receive £40 following each personal alarm product purchased through the RAF Benevolent Fund landing page on the Taking Care website.
Steve Gates, Managing Director at Taking Care said:
“We are proud to be partnering with the RAF Benevolent Fund and supporting their veterans and we are delighted to be contributing financially to the work of this charity to the benefit of our customers and their families.”
“We are committed to working with our partners to spread the word about the valuable benefits of assistive technology and the part it plays in our vision to help people continue to live an active and independent life.”