What’s happening on the ground?
In the first wave,
almost 50% of doctors had to
source their own PPE
or rely on a donation due to shortages
How are we helping?
Recognising the global emergency, our first priority was identifying the key areas where support was required. Our team reached out to hospitals, schools and care groups across the country to identify key concerns and vulnerable groups. Next, we utilised our vast network of partners to develop necessary solutions to tackle an overworked and under resourced NHS, food poverty for families from vulnerable backgrounds, elderly family members left without support on account of social distancing rules, and the need to fund vital research.
We joined forces with junior doctor Marissa Lewis, who found out exactly what her NHS colleagues were in dire need of, to develop Frontline Care Boxes. Our partnership with Reckitt Benckiser (RB), who contributed over 75,000 units of products, saw 10,000 frontline care boxes distributed to hospitals across the country. The box of essentials and pick-me-ups – including refreshments, eye masks and earplugs to help staff sleep during shift breaks, mouthwash sticks, glucose/energy tablets and more, were designed to bring a little respite to frontline staff who worked flat-out to save lives during this unprecedented crisis.
Our partnership with charity BADU saw grocery packs distributed to the most vulnerable. Rice-alternative food brand, Full Green, pledged 10,000 units of its cauli-rice to the food packs, providing nutritious and wholesome food to many families struggling at the height of the pandemic.
At the peak of the first wave, almost 65% of doctors said they felt only partly or not at all protected from the virus due to a distinct lack of PPE (British Medical Association, BMA). As a result, One Family partnered with Helpful Engineering to produce 4,000 visors for hospital staff. In compliance with health and safety regulations, these visors were distributed as an additional item in our frontline care packs.
Following government advice during the first wave, more and more family members found themselves avoiding physical contact with their elderly loved ones, with visits to care homes and other such facilities firstly discouraged, and then banned altogether. With this in mind, One Family partnered with tech solutions company The Tekk Group to provide tablets to the elderly in care homes. In an initial rollout of the scheme, 300 iPad Airs were provided across 25 care homes, managed by leading providers Athena Care Homes and Hallmark Care Homes.
On a telephone call with her colleague, Thana'a Mohajer, Dr Marissa Lewis heard about his particularly gruelling A&E shift. The details were familiar to her, and she wanted to express her solidarity and understanding with Thana’a. So, Marissa conceptualised a care box: filled with all the essentials a frontline worker would need, including refreshments, mouthwash sticks and even ear plugs for some well-earned rest during shift breaks! Thana’a loved his care box, and so too did Marissa’s colleagues. Pretty soon, she had requests from other doctors for a care box of their own. And without giving it another thought, Marissa started using the little free time she had to make more care boxes - knowing the worst of this crisis was yet to come, and that her colleagues needed all the support they could get.
As part of our Emergency Care Fund for COVID-19, partnered with Dr Lewis to create ‘Frontline Care Boxes’ for our brilliant medical staff. With your support and the contributions of some amazing partners, we were able to distribute 10,000 care boxes nationwide.
