40 Faces of Brendoncare – Dr Sam Meredith

Dr Sam Meredith is a Research Fellow in the geriatric medicine team at the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Medicine who helped Brendoncare to get physical!

Under the leadership of Dr Stephen Lim, the University launched the ImPACt study. Its aim was to research ways of improving physical activity of older people in the community using trained volunteers.

Instructor:

Sam, who used to be an exercise instructor, was a member of the study team which partnered with Brendoncare. She trained some of its volunteers to lead seated exercise classes in clubs throughout Hampshire and Dorset.

The pilot project was launched in March 2021 during the pandemic, when 12 Brendoncare volunteers were trained to lead the exercise classes. Since then, seated exercise has been embedded as a popular core part of Brendoncare’s club activities.

Sam explains her part in the project:

“Our department’s objective is to improve the wellbeing of older adults. Many of our projects are in hospitals but some are also in the community. We know activity is good for us but sometimes, it is difficult to get motivated to do it.

“The reason we partnered with Brendoncare is because the ethos and working practices were really compatible with what we were trying to do. What is so good about Brendoncare is that you listen to what people want and need, then adapt your activities to them.

“Starting the project during Covid was a real challenge but Brendoncare was so good at adapting its work to deal with these circumstances. A lot went online, and we met the challenge by training the volunteers on Zoom.

Champions:

“This is why we went with the seated exercises because they were safer to do at home. Another key factor during the pandemic was the reduced socialisation. But Brendoncare helped to get people online and supported them which was amazing.

“We trained 12 champions as part of the initial study. The volunteers had three online group training sessions. If they wanted extra practice, we offered them one to one support.

“One of the most enjoyable parts of my role was training them. They were amazing and did so well. Another key finding from our research was that the volunteers were relatable role models to people in the groups. As a result, people were really keen to participate and follow the volunteers, because they were like them and made it fun. They all did a fantastic job.

Video:

“As well as the online training, we produced a training booklet and video so they could refer to those sessions online and also in their own time if they wanted to practice more.

“It helped us develop a training package that we can now use in other research projects across other different organisations.”

As a result of the Brendoncare project, Sam and team have used the model in a recent project called ‘Frail to Fit’. In it, volunteers worked to improve the fitness of patients who have just been discharged from hospital.

She is delighted with the results.

“The project has exceeded our expectations. The main purpose of doing any research is for it to have an impact long term and showing it is sustainable. Brendoncare has really taken it on to achieve this.”

Brendoncare is continuing to work closely with the Southampton University team to identify other research projects in which they can work together.