Page 10 - Community Living Magazine 33-4

coronavirus

sitting at my new desk in what was once
an activity room; it is now our store room
where I issue PPE to our services as
needed. From here, I can monitor use and
get PPE out to where it is needed quickly
and efficiently.

A food donation from a casino
meant many people had a
change and were eating
lobster and duck à l’orange

The advantage of central distribution is
Care in the crisis that I and other members of the senior
team have become our couriers. This
means we are out and about and visible
to all our services. This connection with
the teams has been welcomed and
reassuring for morale.
Dealing with the turmoil wrought by Covid-19 has been like On the Easter weekend, chief executive
sprinting through a marathon, says Mandy Crowford, who Gabby Machell and I were out delivering
PPE. This was a practical demonstration of
reports on keeping services going during lockdown solidarity as well as meeting a need.
We also had to manage constant
requests for information from absolutely
s I write this, I am mindful that we This came to a halt on Friday, when one everyone, including housing associations,
have a way to go yet we have of the team felt a bit “off”. One Covid-19 the Care Quality Commission, clinical
Aachieved so much already, and I positive director and, five weeks on, we commissioning groups and local
wonder what my reflection will look like in have seen each other daily using authorities, all wanting information in a
a month or a year from now. teleconferencing and continued in this variety of formats and by different
I am fortunate to work for an incredible way, planning and troubleshooting our deadlines. Our pleas for a single system
organisation – the Westminster Society way over new hurdles as they appear. were met with sympathy but were
for People with Learning Disabilities – rejected, and we continue to struggle
which is truly values based, not only in Seeking ‘legitimate’ PPE with this every day.
words but also in actions. The lack of personal protective equipment
Most of the senior team had worked (PPE) soon became the thing that kept me Securing food
together during the H1N1 influenza awake at night and meant that I had to hit Battle number two was for food supplies.
pandemic and we started our Covid-19 the organisational credit card hard for Usually, the people we work with do their
journey with a business continuity plan anything that looked legitimate. It was own shopping and make their own choices,
firmly established and a level of also very difficult to navigate PPE with support from staff as needed. As
confidence that told us that we would be supply processes via clinical the lockdown began, all of this went
OK and we knew what we are doing. commissioning groups and out of the window.
I began my marathon run in mid-March. local authorities as We bought
The reality of what was coming had each had their own secondhand chest
started to hit home. The idea of social systems. freezers and set up a
distancing was a vague notion coming Our lack of a food bank. We
from overseas. Our first week of planning central stocked this with
was spent in our meeting room with the purchasing donations from
senior management team of six working system worked local businesses, Westminster Society for People with Learning Disabilities; CDC/Alissa Eckert MS/Dan Higgins MAMS
through our Covid-19 organisational risk to our advantage hotels and a West
assessment and challenges we could face. and meant we End casino. We
had to spread also established
purchasing across links with catering
We sourced goggles from the whole senior suppliers and
wholesalers. We
builders, sterilising fluid from team, which allowed us delivered food to services
to set up multiple accounts
a brewing firm and gloves and secure a wide range of every day.
We noticed a change in some eating
from the motor industry suppliers within the supply chain. habits, especially as a result of the casino
We centralised the storage and
distribution of PPE. I am writing this donation, which meant many people had
10 Vol 33 No 4 | Summer 2020 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk