Blue Label opens doors to dignity for REEA Foundation’s residents
CRAIGHALL PARK – The facility is aimed at providing equipment and services to residents, as well as training to upskill some of the residents' workforce.
Established in 1935, the REEA Foundation provides a residential care facility for adults living with epilepsy and associated illnesses, housing 39 permanent beneficiaries with assisted care for all aspects of daily living.
The foundation launched its computer lab on October 11 in conjunction with Blue Label Telecom.
The facility is aimed at providing equipment and services to residents, as well as training to upskill some of the residents’ workforce.
Blue Label Telecoms’ head of continuous improvement, Jonathan Duncan, visited the foundation and identified an opportunity to upskill some residents.
“As a technology company in the business of connectivity via airtime and mobile transaction services that enable vital communications, Blue Label Telecom seized the opportunity to assist this important foundation to overcome the challenges it faced with limited funding, intermittent internet access, and inadequate equipment and training,” Duncan said.
Duncan explained that Blue Label created a ‘sustainable solution package’ facility that included a printer, eight computers, internet connectivity with a router and 100GB of data per month, as well as training certain residents to become call-centre agents.
“With the disabilities of each potential trainee taken into account, skills development will be provided to every person who wishes to participate in learning how to use the internet to communicate via email or video calling.
“This will enable some 60 to 80 people to send emails and interact with their friends and families via Skype and Zoom, and possibly enter the workplace with their new skills, some in Blue Label call centres initially.”
Elinor Demetrio, social worker for the REEA Foundation, said Blue Label has opened a door to unimagined possibilities for residents. “Connection with their families helps them realise that they are loved but not forgotten, connection with the world builds self-esteem and the ability to attempt and achieve goals of which they never dreamed. Thank you, Blue Label, for making the impossible possible.”
