Volunteers from across East Ayrshire have been lending a hand to local care homes during the coronavirus pandemic at a time when they’ve needed it the most.

Following the outbreak of the virus, 19 care homes were contacted by East Ayrshire Council to offer assistance from volunteers with tasks such as shopping, pharmacy collections and the distribution of PPE. These were tasks which were taking staff away from the care setting where they were desperately needed.

Out of the 19 care homes, 11 took up the offer of support and volunteers were immediately assigned.

Cara Smith has been helping two of the care homes in East Ayrshire.

She said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to support the care homes in any way I can. I hope I have been able to make their jobs a little easier by helping when needed.”

Volunteers were provided with a briefing note on their role which reinforced the national guidance on social distancing and were also provided with a volunteer name badge and PPE appropriate to their role. These personal touches helped residents form a closer bond with those supporting them.

As well as the initial requests for assistance, some of the care homes also made additional requests for things like entertainment for residents, gardening and writing letters so residents could keep in contact with others.

Support from volunteers is currently ongoing and will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Pauline Perratt from Burnfoot House Care Home in Patna said: “I would just like to say that this service has been a blessing to us knowing that every week we can rely on someone to pick up our PPE at this busy time.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone who has volunteered to support the care homes at this time.”

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