Tapestry Care COVID-19 Response

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Tapestry Care COVID-19 Response

Tapestry is an innovative charity and ?not for profit' social business working to provide appropriate, personalised and affordable care and support for adults and older people in the local community. They believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to live a healthy and connected life regardless of age or ability.

Tapestry is continuing to work throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic as part of a coordinated approach, led by the Havering Compact and the Havering Transformation Programme Manager, to ensure resources are maximised on the ground and services are not duplicated. The charity have officially been designated a Community Coordination organisation and will be advertised as such across the borough this upcoming week. They are hoping to play a much more active role in supporting more of the Community.

Last week the charity offered/allocated staff and volunteer time to support the management/coordination of the high number of volunteer requests that Havering Volunteer Centre have received.

The Hornchurch charity released a statement this week outlining the services they are still offering. You can read this statement below:

Care and support

1. We continue to focus on how we help, feed , protect, support and provide companionship to those vulnerable clients, and their carers, that are isolated at home. They are all called several times a week, on the day(s) they would have attended (Unless they have requested differently). We continue to deliver food packages, medicines and toiletries/sanitary products. Demand for this kind of help continues to increase.

2. As the extension of the befriending telephone service for the wider community is now being coordinated by the Havering Volunteer Centre, we are now signposting volunteers to Havering Volunteer Centre to bolster the capacity of this service. We will request volunteers, as required, from the volunteer ?bank' to support our plans. Our telephone befriending team has made contact with the HVC and we will continue to investigate how we can help reach isolated individuals.

3. We will continue to look at how we can safely create opportunities to provide group entertainment, exercise sessions and activities for clients to provide a focus for the day, and activities to look forward too. We will increase signposting to the large volume of activities that are being launched every day.

Food Support

4. Our HOPWA kitchen has continued to operate and this week, with the support of volunteers, we will be delivering hot and cold freshly made meals to the most vulnerable in the community. Supported by a small grant from Lidl, these meals will be free, during this trail week, and delivered to the most in need. We will continue to deliver emergency free meals as long as we can and will be seeking funding and support to increase the number of emergency meals if there is a demand.

If there is a demand for hot and cold main meals and additional small meals, we intend to launch a small paid for service. The cost of the meals will be as low as possible and will cover just the production and delivery (by Volunteers) costs. No profit will be made from the activity. In this way we believe we can make them very affordable producing a 2-course meal delivered for £5 and a small meal delivered for £3. We have applied for a £5,000 grant from the Havering Emergency fund to pay for equipment for deliveries and volunteer expenses which, if successful, will increase capacity very quickly.

Transport

Food/medicine/toiletries drops to our vulnerable clients are now being made by staff and volunteers in car's and therefore we have mothballed our buses. They do, however, remain ready to move people or products, (if possible, within guidelines), if requested to do so by LBH or the NHS.

Home Care

5. Our fantastic, small Home Care service continues to operate ensuring that the small number of clients we support, retain the vital care they need. Their commitment has been incredible, considering the risks they are facing every day. We intend to celebrate and reward their commitment now, and in the future, once the lockdown has ended.

Respite support

6. We continue to look at how this respite support might be done safely.

Other actions

1. Our assets, that is: buildings, transport, food befriending service, excess staffing resources remain available to support local plans to provide support to other vulnerable groups during the pandemic. We continue to work with LBH teams to ensure that these assets can be used when appropriate/needed.