New Royal Blind Services for visually impaired adults in Edinburgh, Sight Scotland Allermuir, Scottish Capital

Royal Blind Services for visually impaired adults Building

Sight Scotland: Glenallan Drive Building in the Scottish Capital

21 Feb 2018

Royal Blind provide new services for visually impaired adults

Sight Scotland is the new name for Royal Blind

Royal Blind provide new services for visually impaired adults

In a ribbon cutting ceremony, led by the Chair of the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sports Committee, Neil Findlay MSP, the community celebrated the official opening of the new Royal Blind Allermuir service in Edinburgh in 2016 – with the new service providing new residence for visually impaired adults with complex needs.

Renovating a former care home in Glenallan Drive, the blind charity built a residential care home for four adults that acts as an extension of its adult services for people with multiple disabilities and visual impairment, providing community-based supported living with 24-hour support.

At the ceremony, Mr Findlay toured the facilities and met the residents of the specially designed home before declaring the service ‘open’.

He said: “This is a great day for all concerned with this project. A lot of dedicated people have worked hard to provide a comforting and supportive home setting for adults who live with a combination of visual impairment and other issues.

“Residents will now be able to enjoy the benefits of being at home in the heart of the community, getting out and about with staff, friends and relatives. I am sure they will all enjoy life at Allermuir.”

Already providing complex services for the visually impaired, Allermuir is an extension of Royal Blind’s Adult Services. Its sister service, Forward Vision, in Morningside, currently provides supported living for visually impaired adults with complex needs aged 17-25.

Julie Jamieson, Care Services Manager at Royal Blind, said: “We were delighted to welcome our guests to Allermuir today and I would like to thank Mr Findlay for officially launching the service. Our residents have already settled in really well and are getting to know our neighbours, who have been incredibly welcoming.”

Richard Hellewell, Chief Executive, said “We have opened Allermuir as a residence for life in the heart of a community. We are hoping that this will be the first of many opportunities for us to provide a highly specialised service of this kind for people who otherwise struggle to find an appropriate place to live with the right support.

“We are delighted that the home local authorities of the residents have chosen to commission this service, and I am extremely grateful to all the Royal Blind staff who have worked so hard to make this service feel like home for our new residents.”

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