East Renfrewshire Council has been coordinating a range of actions to support communities across East Renfrewshire during the coronavirus crisis, particularly the most vulnerable people.
The council and Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) are working together to make sure that the most vulnerable citizens get the help they need. The focus of the response is multi-layered and includes putting arrangements in place for distributing food and medicines, and communication with:
- Free school meal households
- Foodbank users
- Low income households and other vulnerable groups
- People in the ‘shielding’ category – those people most at risk from coronavirus due to underlying health conditions.
Community Hub established
A community hub has been set up to communicate with isolated people who may have no family and friends for support. Run by Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire (VAER), together with East Renfrewshire Council and the Health & Social Care Partnership, the hub can help with tasks such as shopping, prescriptions and general information, as well as welfare calls to check people are okay.
In the space of a few weeks, over 700 individuals living in East Renfrewshire have offered to volunteer with the Community Hub as a result of the local and national recruitment campaigns. There have also been offers of support from many local organisations and partners, many offering transport and drivers to support the Hub and the councils food provision. One example of this is Strathclyde 4x4 Emergency Response, a charity with lots of experience of supporting the emergency services during bad weather. In partnership with the HSCP and Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, the council quickly took up its offer of PVG-vetted drivers to deliver vital prescription to households isolating and in need of help.
Mutual Aid Groups
In the initial stages of the outbreak, a number of local mutual aid groups have come together to offer support.
Mutual aid groups offer street level support for neighbours such as shopping, prescriptions and welfare checks. They all link back to the community hub and the Keep Calm and Coordinate Facebook page.
Social media
There is a closed Facebook Group hosted and moderated by VAER supported by Strategic Services Staff. It provides a forum to support coordination of effort and to enable sharing of resources and guidance as the situation rapidly changes.
Directory of support
VAER has been researching and collating information about what is happening locally, changes to service provision, people willing to help, organisations looking for help and how local businesses are adapting to offer more flexible services.
This directory of support helps the team at The Community Hub respond to incoming questions and requests more effectively. The directory is regularly updated with the latest community information.
Staff and volunteer wellbeing
Work is underway to collate resource materials to build resilience and promote wellbeing among staff and volunteers.
The council, HSCP and third sector are compiling lists of useful and credible sources of information to promote mental well-being and resilience for staff and volunteers working in the face of considerable stress and worry. These resources will be shared by using a range of media via the council’s HR section, HSCP and local third sector partners.
East Renfrewshire Council has produced a Sway presentation giving more detail about its community response to Covid-19, plus contact details.