Community spirit shines through to rescue vulnerable
LOCAL community groups rallying together to help the more vulnerable is the silver lining of the coronavirus pandemic. It is the elderly and long-term ill who are most at risk and as they self-isolate they need good neighbours to help keep them supplied with food and essentials.
Britain has a long, proud tradition of voluntary groups and that spirit is rapidly swelling to meet this new challenge.
Mutual aid groups are springing up across the country as vulnerable members of our society face months behind closed doors.
As many as 400 groups were established in just one day this week with tens of thousands of volunteers offering assistance with everyday chores.
It’s not just buying food, but picking up repeat prescriptions, walking a dog and other little essential tasks. Even putting out rubbish for the weekly roadside collection might require a little neighbourly intervention.
Facebook groups and other social media are a good way of passing around local information about new sources of hardto-get commodities.
But many older people are not digitally savvy so posting flyers through their letterbox is a more direct method of letting them know they are not alone.
Posters pinned up in blocks of flats are also helping to spread the word.
IT’S best if these offers of help come from familiar faces as no doubt some villains could exploit this new vulnerability of older people.
So, if everyone can look out for their nearest elderly neighbours who might be on their own that would help to reassure them. Even better, scan your face on to any flyer you put through their door so they know who you are.
Chronic loneliness is going to be a major side-effect of these social isolation instructions.
Trips to the shops and a coffee in a nearby café are a simple but effective pleasure for many older people.
To have this removed can quickly lead to depression, making people even more vulnerable to infection.
To combat this, people could make a regular time to telephone isolated neighbours and have a chat.
You can still have a cup coffee at the end of a phone.
Boris Johnson’s self-isolating instructions this week may well have been prompted by a desire to flatten the curve of new infections and protect those most at risk.
But they will have an enormous social impact that may be worse than the disease itself.
In France, many citizens have been ignoring the draconian advice of their President Macron and are still meeting in public places.
We should not go down the of totalitarian path of threatening people with fines or imprisonment for simply getting some fresh air and passing the time of day with people.
It’s what we do as humans. We are intensely social creatures and to cut that off is quite frankly devastating for many who need that daily fix of humanity to keep going.
Some people nearing the end of their lives might understandably think they would rather take a risk and have a pint out than face abject isolation.
To see all our high streets with closed shops, bars, restaurants and cafes is profoundly worrying.
Not just for businesses on the edge of survival and thousands of people losing their income, but for the very fabric of our highly integrated society.
Animals locked in cages quickly become very unhappy.
We are no different and it is vital that we do everything to keep our social networks going.
One family of an 88-year-old man who died from coronavirus in Manchester do not want cards or sympathy.
They are suggesting a “wall of kindness” in their local church where people can place offers of neighbourly assistance.
Food banks and other charities are now widening their mission to help elderly and less mobile people who have missed out on stockpiling goods.
FACEBOOK groups offering local help are being linked nationally by Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK. Brighton’s group already has more than 6,000 members.
They are not just helping the elderly but vulnerable single parents who can’t get out and are getting low on food.
TV will be needed more than ever to keep isolated people company. The least the BBC can do is ban forever the idea of levying a licence fee on those told to stay indoors.
The next few months are going to be very testing for us all but it is good news that our essential spirit of helpfulness and community is shining through dark clouds ahead.
‘Social media is a good way of passing around local information’