(*Last updated 24th March)
Earlier this month, government announced significant new social distancing measures aimed at reducing the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) and to protect older people and vulnerable adults. As a result, Headway East London acted to ensure the health and safety of our members, volunteers, carer and families – which is always our main priority.
This meant significant changes to the way we work: starting with the difficult decision to temporarily close the Day Service and all Support Groups until further notice. This is to ensure that our services do not contribute to the spread of the virus from individual to individual, and that we protect those most at risk of serious harm from contraction and our wider community.
Further guidance around non-essential contact and social distancing also means that we are busy re-designing all of our services (including our Therapies, Casework and Community Support) to focus on remote outreach work that ensures the continued welfare of our members. We’re finding creative and flexible ways to do this; be that through telephone calls, video messages, online peer support networks, assistance with shopping and medication delivery, creative online challenges (you can read more about that here).
Although our traditional means of working will have to change and adapt, we remain committed to ensuring that every member of our community continues to feel connected to, and supported by, all of us here at Headway East London. Our members are amongst the most vulnerable in society and it’s vital that they are backed by organisations specially equipped to deal with their complex needs.
As a small, local and independent charity, this is going to be an incredibly testing time – as it will be for countless others. This means getting creative in the ways that we care for our members and raise money to continue our services. We truly appreciate your continued support as we move forward, and wish you all good health and safety in these difficult times.
Love from us lot x
Ps. If you live in our catchment and have questions/ need support you can contact us on info@headwayeastlondon.org or (dependent on office staff) 020 7749 7790. If you are looking for help nationally, please see the Headway UK website. For more information on the coronavirus Covid-19 please visit the Public Health England website.
Pps. If you’d like to support Headway East London directly please consider making a donation to us. Thank you!
