1 December 2025: The home care team at Walfinch Harrow and Brent have raised £200 for the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) by each walking 25,000 steps in one day – over 20,000 more than the UK average.

Shilpi Verma, Managing Director and Registered Manager at Walfinch Harrow and Brent, says: “Many members of our care team, including me, love to raise money for charity through fitness activities, so we recently spent a sunny day walking through London with  colleagues from Walfinch's Watford office.

“We feel strongly about raising awareness of osteoporosis because as carers we often see its effects on people's lives.  It causes bones to lose strength and break more easily, and leads to 500,000 broken bones every year in the UK. Half of women and 20% of men over 50 will break a bone because of it,” says Shilpi.

Walfinch home care is dedicated to combining care with activity, to improve people's physical and mental health.  This chimes with the aims of ROS, which strongly recommends regular exercise to maintain optimal bone health, so walking as a way to raise awareness is particularly appropriate.

Walfinch Chief Executive Amrit Dhaliwal, known as 'The Walking CEO', is a Business Ambassador for ROS and Walfinch is raising awareness of osteoporosis nationally.  It's a silent disease, so most people don't know they have it and often the first sign is a broken bone.”

Shilpi says: “We're encouraging everyone to check their risk of the condition online, using The Great British Bone Check, a free, three-minute online tool from ROS that helps you understand your osteoporosis risk.”

Walfinch Harrow and Brent also runs a Thrive Club, where Shilpi and her team offer free fitness sessions for anyone in the local area.  Walfinch carers will help clients get to the Thrive Club, and will help clients who remain at home to take part in Walfinch's online yoga classes.

Seasonal charity activities

Shilpi and her team are also taking part in a Santa Dash on 7 December to raise money for St Luke's Hospice in Pinner, among hundreds of other supporters, all dressed in Santa suits.

“The full course is five kilometres, and we have sponsored five runners' places,” says Shilpi. “We help care for patients at the hospice and at home, and the hospice provides our carers with extra palliative care training, so we are both part of the local care community.”

The benefits of fundraising

“Fund raising activities like these mean we are making even more of a difference in the community, and raise our profile, so people looking for advice about care in our area know where to find it – and active charity fund raising keeps us fit,” says Shilpi.