<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/warm-home-prescription-health-benefits/>
"Jackie Spenceley paid £79 toward the gas and electric bill every month for
years, even in summer, to build up credit to heat her three-bedroom home in
Middlesbrough in northwestern England through the raw winter months. Then, a
couple years ago, as fuel prices climbed, her bill rose to more than £100. A
short time later, it jumped again, to over £140.
As energy costs increased, Spenceley curbed her use of her heating, running it
only for an hour on winter evenings, or sometimes not at all. Spenceley, 79,
doesn’t typically mind the cold. But she has chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, or COPD, and cold temperatures exacerbate her symptoms. Her voice gets
weaker, and she has a harder time breathing.
For that reason, in the fall of 2022, her local health office referred her for
a program to help cover the cost of heating her home. Through that winter,
Spenceley received roughly £650 ($800) toward her energy bills. Then the
following year, the program came back with a new offer: this time, it paid to
make her heating system more efficient by replacing 50-year-old radiators and
adding a thick layer of insulation in her ceiling. The measures made a huge
difference during the raw winter months for both Spenceley’s finances and her
comfort.
“I know it will get worse, that you can’t stop this disease,” Spenceley says.
“There’s not a cure for it. But this certainly helped me by keeping the house
warm and livable.”
Spenceley was enrolled in the Warm Home Prescription program, a pilot run by
the British nonprofit Energy Systems Catapult. In 2022, the initiative worked
with the National Health Service in four regions around the UK to identify
people most vulnerable to conditions linked to cold homes, and offered them
assistance to heat their homes."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
