How a local home care provider helped people in need

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic there have been many heart-warming stories about how communities have pulled together to look after the most vulnerable.

Early in the pandemic, local home care provider Right at Home GF identified two potential issues for people who were self-isolating – how to get shopping and how to cope with loneliness.

In response, Friends of Right at Home was launched to offer a free shopping and phone companionship service for people in need. Tapping into the community’s desire to help, Right at Home recruited a team of nearly 180 volunteers who were each interviewed, DBS and identity-checked and trained.

One of the main advantages of the shopping service was the financial security that Right at Home was able to guarantee. People’s accounts were debited through the home care provider’s secure finance system so there was no need for an exchange of cash between the volunteer and client.

Alastair Shanks, Managing Director at Right at Home says: “Being a part of the Guildford community is very important to us and so we were pleased to be able to offer the Friends of Right at Home services. At the peak of the pandemic, we did 107 shops per week for people who were shielding or in isolation. With the easing of the lockdown measures, we have seen demand for the services tail off and many of volunteers have gone back to their normal jobs. If there was to be a resurgence of lockdown measures, we would aim to restart the Friends service.

“We are grateful to our team of committed volunteers who gave up their time and enabled vulnerable people in our local community to stay safe in their own homes. We very much hope that the small role we played in launching Friends of Right at Home has helped bring our community closer together.”

Find out more about Right at Home GF’s home care services or call 01420 481716