On Saturday September 2, the Gills were pleased to welcome some special guests to MEMS Priestfield Stadium for the launch of new community project Holding Hands.
Run by Medway Community Healthcare, Holding Hands is a social prescribing project for children and their families, involving access to a range of non-clinical interventions and activities which can impact positively on individual and family wellbeing and resilience.
Social prescribing is a way of connecting health and social care users to voluntary and community support, information and advice.
The Gills helped to kick start the Holding Hands project by inviting two local children with disabilities to attend our match against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday. The aim was to inspire children in Medway with disabilities to become actively involved in sport, in any capacity that they are able to participate.
Karen Adgie, Medway Community Healthcare children's therapy team co-ordinator, said: "It was great to see Max and Owen enjoy an afternoon at Gillingham Football Club with their dads. Both are football mad!
"We hope that our Holding Hands project will help capture everyone's imagination to create opportunities for all children to become involved with many different community activities in Medway."
Following the launch, Medway Community Healthcare (MCH) are also looking to work with other local sporting, theatre and arts clubs who are able to accommodate the needs of children with disabilities and help them get the most out of life. With a full team of highly trained therapists, MCH are on hand to give children and club leaders advice on adapting the environment to meet the needs of all children.
If your charity or voluntary organisation would like to be part of the MCH Holding Hands project and enrich the lives of disabled children please contact; carole.campbell1@nhs.net.