Mini Profile: Data Officer and volunteer Dana Winogron

Dana Winogron is Data and Output Officer for the Biomedical Research Centre based at St Mary's Campus and also volunteers helping the elderly.

What does the Imperial BRC team do? 

Our mission is to create an environment that allows our experimental medicine researchers to translate promising findings in the laboratory into potential improvements in clinical care. In real terms, that means identifying and funding excellent clinical research, training the next generation of clinical academics, creating new laboratory infrastructure, involving patients and the public in our research, and managing a database of clinical studies.

You’ve been involved with volunteering for a few years now?

Yes, I actually first got involved in volunteering in an area related to my previous job which was administering HIV clinical trials – so I was helping another charity outside of work delivering meals to HIV patients.

But there wasn’t the face-to-face interaction that I wanted. Then I saw an advert on the tube for a charity, Contact the Elderly; it was a cartoon style poster asking if you could spare a few hours a month to ‘take Harry and Sally to Sunday tea’. It caught my attention, since I’d always gotten on well with old people and eventually I got around to making the call.

So how does it work?

It’s really simple idea, and in essence it involves getting a small group of volunteers and elderly ‘guests’ together for tea parties one Sunday a month to chat in a relaxed environment, tell stories, play games and generally get to know one another. Typically some of the volunteers will offer to host a tea party at their own home while other volunteers (such as myself) pick up the guests, drive them to the party and drive them home.

It’s about providing guests with social outlet and combating isolation that is such a burden for many elderly people, who although in decent physical health, are just rather lonely.

And volunteers also get something out of this too?

Absolutely! I’ve become firm friends with one of my guests, Olive, who is 98 and lives alone in Archway. Having old people in your life who are not your relatives is a very rewarding and interesting experience. Crucially, you are there because you want to be there and before you know it you’re cracking jokes with someone 60 years older than you!

Is there a chance for Imperial staff to get involved?

Yes, although you will need access to a car to take the guest to and from tea parties – or a ground level flat if you’re interested in the hosting. Looking to the future it would be really nice to do something at Imperial with the guests, with students coming along just to chat and interact. We have occasionally had our gatherings at special locations, such as the Royal Opera House for a showing of Romeo and Juliet, a plush hotel in Soho and even the local fire brigade!

To learn more about the work of Contact the Elderly and even get involved, visit their website at: http://www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk/