Welfare at The Royal Naval Association, Role of the RNA Welfare Officer, Cyprus

Andrew Noyes

The role of the Welfare Officer is to act as the first point of contact for any member of the RNA seeking advice or assistance from their local branch.

The Welfare Officer needs to be a good listener and have the ability to deal with people sympathetically and patiently. Having gathered as much information as possible about the person's problem, he then needs to present the facts to his colleagues on the branch committee for discussion and a decision on what, if any, assistance can be offered.

The RNA by its very nature has many members who are approaching pensionable age or are already pensioners; it is therefore quite common for problems to be health related. Here in Cyprus specialist hospital care is mostly centred on Nicosia which means that people who have to make multiple hospital visits, or whose relatives do so while they are confined to hospital, may well incur significant travel costs.

The RNA Cyprus is relatively small and the funds available to assist people are limited, however, any request for assistance will be sympathetically viewed by the committee.

RNA Cyprus Branch also maintains strong links with other service charities on the island such as SSAFA and The Royal British Legion. These organisations have wide experience in the field of welfare and obtaining grants from UK based charities such as the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust. They also have their own trained case workers who will visit individuals, when requested.

If you need help or even just someone with whom to talk things through please don't hesitate to get in touch. RNA Cyprus will do whatever it can to assist.