Causeway Coast & Glens Council staff have been working directly with the Department for Communities, the two Health and Social Care Trusts, the Public Health Agency and representative bodies of the Voluntary and Community Sector to support the vulnerable and isolated persons in the Borough.
To help identify those vulnerable and isolated persons, Advice NI is launching a Covid 19 Community Helpline, which goes live later this week – hopefully Friday.
Council has set up a Covid-19 Co-ordination Hub to support the voluntary effort in the Borough, the role of which is to:
• Receive ‘referrals’ from the Health and Social Care Trusts and Advice NI;
• Allocate the ‘referral’ to a local voluntary community organisation and subsequently coordinate, record and report the volunteer community activities in the Borough;
• Support and sustain the voluntary community organisations.
Therefore with effect Friday, the Council Coordination Hub will be directing requests from the Helpline to community organisations, with the specific support to be provided, which may include:
• Food delivery and collections;
• Prescription delivery and collections;
• Fuel – Requirement for top-up gas cards, electric top-ups, coal and heating oil; and
• Social contact.
Clearly this is a voluntary service, but Council will endeavour to support our community organisations by providing:
• Grant Funding as this become available;
• Information relating to the sourcing and supply of physical resources. Including Personal Protection Equipment;
• Through Volunteer Now, source additional volunteers;
• The allocation of Council’s Community Development Staff to provide local support and information.
The Council’s Coordination Hub is established at the Flowerfield Arts Centre.
Please note that the Hub is not accessible by the wider community / general public.
The facility is set up to ensure the safety of Council staff with effective social distancing applied.
Any community organisation, church group or sporting organisation who is actively supporting their communities and specifically the vulnerable and isolated, is requested to register with Council’s Covid 19 Coordination Hub through Council’s Community Development Team, Julie Welsh and Louise Scullion.
Please email community.development@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk
The current list can be viewed on the Causeway Council Website Here.
