In Late 2014, NOVAS Initiatives won an award for the Best Patient Lifestyle Education Project at the Irish Healthcare Awards ceremony held in Dublin.

NOVAS Initiatives, one of the largest homeless providers in the state, recently won the category for projects that promote healthy lifestyle and patient education, with a view to improving the health of at-risk populations, at the Irish Healthcare The project, entitled, HEADS UP: Preventing and Responding to Overdose in McGarry House was commissioned to tackle the level of overdose among the homeless population in one of its Limerick services, McGarry House. This is a low-threshold facility that provides temporary supported accommodation to 30 male and female residents.

Michael Goulding, NOVAS CEO, noted that the award ‘is not only recognition for the work NOVAS does to combat the issue but more importantly a recognition of the scourge of overdose among the most vulnerable groups in our society. More people die in Ireland each year from overdose than road traffic accidents, yet it fails to reach the political agenda. We hope this research will help to highlight the issue so that a consorted and pro-active response by government and the relevant agencies can be pursued.’

Research was undertaken by Quality Matters and the Graduate Entry Medical School University of Limerick. It was found that almost three quarters of the people who had participated in the research had previously overdosed, most within the last year, and 93% had witnessed an overdose, again most within the last year. Benzodiazepines and heroin were the drugs most frequently used by those interviewed, with one-fifth of the cohort injecting daily.

‘We commissioned this research because nothing like this had been done before in Ireland’, Anne Cronin, Head of Homeless Services with NOVAS explained, ‘People are dying unnecessarily from overdoses in Limerick and all over Ireland. These deaths are preventable. This research helps us understand our residents’ experiences, and how our residents and staff can prevent overdose, and can best respond to it when it happens to stop it becoming fatal’.

In the 18 months prior to the research there was an overdose every two weeks, on average, in McGarry House.’ The staff were responding effectively, but we knew there was more to learn’ said Anne, ‘We needed to find out why such levels of overdose were happening among our clients and the best possible ways we could respond. We felt an independent review was the most effective way to do this.’

A multi-agency response to the issue is one of the key recommendations emerging from the report. It also recommended first aid and overdose response training for homeless people. A link between poor mental health and overdose was clearly identified, with more than 50% of the participants indicating that they had been in a particularly bad place immediately prior to their last overdose. The recommendations also made specific reference to supporting high-risk pregnant drug using women.

A peer overdose training project led by NOVAS and our partners is under development and will be delivered to homeless people throughout the country when completed.

Brother Stephen Russell House, one of Limerick’s oldest homeless services, today (21st November) officially opened the doors of its redeveloped and extended facility in the city. The new service will provide 33 units of long-term supported housing. NOVAS’ CEO, Michael Goulding, noted that ‘the tenants of the new facility will no longer be considered homeless, a stigma many of the men have carried for more than a decade.’ He went on to say that ‘the service will provide a home for life for those who need it and will afford them dignity, privacy and security’. He believes ‘a single unit of accommodation is the least that anyone deserves.’

The service, situated on Mulgrave Street in the city, has been completely rebuilt, redesigned and renewed, to meet the changing landscape of homelessness in Ireland. Capital to complete the service was provided by the JP McManus Foundation and the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. It is thus fitting that Sue Ann Foley, daughter of JP and chairperson of the Foundation along with Minister for Education and former Minster for Housing Jan O’Sullivan, will officially open the service today.

The old service, despite the keen efforts of staff was unfit for purpose. It was outdated, substandard and unsuitable to the requirements of many of its clients. There are a myriad of issues among its tenants including mental health issues, physical disabilities, alcohol and substance misuse and experience of sexual and physical abuse. The new build will cater for the physical and therapeutic needs of all tenants. The former dormitory style accommodation will be replaced with single, ensuite rooms and clustered communal living areas. A specially designed service for those presenting with a disability has been developed on the ground floor.

Anne Cronin, NOVAS’ Head of Homeless Services noted that it was poignant that this fantastic service was being opened on the same day that such startling figures about homelessness have been revealed in its 2013 Annual Report. ‘The redevelopment of this service is one of a range of responses by NOVAS to the national crisis’, she said.

The organisation’s annual report revealed that it provided support and services to 2,014 families’ children and single adults during 2013, this was an increase of 23% from the previous twelve month period and a 110% increase since 2010. The report also described how, despite the increasing number of people supported, it amounted to less than 70% of all those referred to its services throughout the year. In all NOVAS service, demand far exceeded capacity. The organisation took a number of steps to tackle the issue including increasing its outreach support, developing a Housing First pilot service and expanding its building programme.

The report also highlights the young age profile of clients, with 50% of those availing of residential services less than 30 years of age. In addition, some 53% of those in receipt of accommodation were women. The organisation is particularly keen to find better outcomes for this group, including plans to relocate and expand the capacity of Mount Brown, Dublin’s only women’s homeless service.

On Friday 29th of November, Minister of State with special responsibility for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, officially turned the sod on NOVAS’ Brother Russell House redevelopment. The service, which has been providing supported accommodation for homeless men for 35 years is being demolished and replaced with a purpose-built facility. Dormitory-style accommodation will be replaced by single ensuite rooms which, CEO Michael Goulding believes is ‘the least that someone who has been living there for years or even decades deserves.’

The service will increase capacity from 26 to 33, and will provide long-term supported housing for men and women. Until now the service was exclusively for homeless men. In 2012, some 55% of clients accessing NOVAS’ accommodation services were women, so opening this service to women will meet increasing demand.

At the sod turning, Minister O’Sullivan noted the ‘tremendous’ work being done by NOVAS in tackling the issue of homelessness in Limerick. She stated that NOVAS ‘made a huge difference, in terms of having facilities and services for people who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.’

The new service will be developed to the tune of €4.4m euros, which was provided by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and the JP McManus Charitable Foundation. Without the hughly generous donation by the foundation of €1.75m euros this development would be an unrealised dream. The service will be finished in the latter months of 2014 and will greatly enhance the quality of life of those who avail of it.

Later that afternoon the Minister travelled to The Greenhills Hotel to officially launch NOVAS’ 2012 Annual Report. The report highlighted some startling finding in terms of the numbers accessing its services and the young age profile of its clients.

In 2012, NOVAS provided support for 1,500 families, adults and children. This was an increase of 25% from the previous year. The age profile of the clients also declined with the number of clients accessing accommodation services aged between 18 and 21 years rising by 63% since 2010, meaning that people are becoming trapped in the cycle of homelessness at a very young age. This increase coincided with a reduced social welfare payment to this cohort of €100 per week, making it very difficult for such adults, without family support, to live independently. The report also found that there was an increase in referrals to its Intensive Family Support Service by 236% during 2012, highlighting the deepening impact of the recession on more and more struggling families.

NOVAS CEO, Michael Goulding called on government to stop the cuts to homeless services and to revert the reduced payment to young adults without family support as it is having the unintended consequence of forcing people into or inhibiting their exit from homeless accommodation.

With National Volunteering week in full flight (May 13th – May 19th) it is a fitting occasion to honour those who make the city soup run possible. This week is about recognising the goodwill and the great work done by volunteers across the country.

NOVAS Initiatives Soup Run, co-ordinated on a voluntary basis by staff member Sinead Carey, is run entirely by local volunteers. Seven nights a week, two volunteers meet in NOVAS’ McGarry House to collect the food, which is distributed outside the former Ferguson’s Chemist premises on O’Connell Street.

Because of the exposure the soup run received following the airing of The Secret Millionaire in September 2012 and the generous donation of philanthropist Richard Mulcahy, NOVAS was thereafter in a position to roll-out the service to provide sustenance every night of the week. Prior to this, the service was disbanded at weekends as the funding for food was not available.

Last year some 4,000 meals were distributed to the needy in Limerick City. Not all those in receipt of food were homeless, some were managing to maintain their own accommodation, and the hot meal provided by the NOVAS Soup Run was the difference between being able to continue paying rent and being on the street. Through the extension of the service to 365 days a year and the increasing number of people entrenched in poverty, it is envisioned that the number of meals distributed this year will rise significantly.

Sinead Carey, Deputy Manager of McGarry House, who organises the soup run in her own time says that ‘it is the goodwill of the volunteers and the generosity of The Greenhills Hotel and Foodcourt Catering’, that make the soup run possible and ‘without their commitment to the programme, people would be going hungry.’ She believes National Volunteering Week to be an ideal occasion ‘to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who graciously give their time to help people less fortunate and those who generously donate to the programme.’

Sinead and Annette O’Carroll (a volunteer on the run) were awarded Limerick Person of the Month last September on behalf of all the volunteers involved in the soup run.

Our very own Sinead and Annette, who were awarded the much coveted Limerick Person of the Month Award in September, along with 11 other worthy contestants, have been nominated for Limerick Person of the Year.

Sinead and Annette are volunteers for NOVAS Initiatives Street Outreach programme, supplying hot meals to people in need in Limerick, 7 nights a week. The Outreach programme, co-ordinated and funded on an entirely voluntary basis, came to prominence, when millionaire Richard Mulcahy came across their good work while secretly filming for RTE’s Secret Millionaire.

The Limerick Person of the Year Awards are being held on 5 March in the Clarion Hotel. All the staff and clients of NOVAS Initiatives would like to wish the girls the very best of luck!!