6 minute read
Navigating the Pandemic
Rob Hammond, HIV peer mentor coordinator, Sussex Beacon health management team, outlines how the charity has responded to the challenges of coronavirus
What was your initial reaction to lockdown?
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On a personal level, although frustrated that the decision had come so late in the outbreak, I welcomed the measure as a way of possibly minimising the impact of Covid-19. Aside from living with HIV, like many of the service users we support, I have underlying health conditions which would make me more susceptible to a severe reaction to catching Covid-19. This was the primary reason for welcoming the lockdown. It gave a sense of reassurance and security. Having later been advised to shield, I settled into a routine of working from home and keeping contact with family and friends via social media, WhatsApp, and telephone etc. With regard to the clients being mentored, I was concerned about the impact of lockdown on increased social isolation and their mental health.
What was the impact on your services?
There was a very quick and immediate response from the Beacon in moving services from face-to-face to telephone and online support. Because of this almost immediate transition, any impact was minimised.
How did you continue to support service users?
All of the volunteer mentors and supported peers (mentees), were contacted and advised of the options available in continuing their mentoring sessions, this being either by telephone, or over Zoom. Within our existing policies, we already had guidelines for both ways of working, which addressed privacy and being data protectioncompliant.
I also maintained regular email and telephone contact with both my volunteer mentors and the supported peers.
In conjunction with a colleague who delivers the Beacon’s casework service, a weekly HIV/ Covid-19 support session was established on Zoom. This was open to all Sussex Beacon service users and others living with HIV.
How did your volunteers respond?
The response from the volunteer mentors was great. They really are a committed group. Some of the volunteers were themselves shielding but were willing to provide telephone-based mentoring. Many of the mentoring pairings continued in this way.
No one took up the option of mentoring by Zoom. I think that the lack of curiosity in using Zoom as a mentoring tool is interesting. Although maybe a majority of us have adapted to using Zoom over the lockdown, at the start it was still very much a new tool and there was some resistance. In delivering the mentoring service, I need to explore any concerns or resistance so that this becomes a viable option in the future.
There was a slight decline in the amount of mentoring that took place during the lockdown period but, overall, I’m pleased with the way the service continued to be delivered.
How did you adapt your various services to get to the position you are in now?
Now that staff are back on site, services are continuing in a hybrid fashion. We have resumed face-to-face delivery, and this is being combined with the continuation of telephone support. The Zoom support group sessions have been ended.
Mentoring is continuing with sessions resuming on site, in the community, and by telephone. Day Service has recommenced the Tuesday and Wednesday groups utilising a rota system so that all members have the option of attending. Casework is ongoing with telephone support and office-based sessions where required.
Our Women & Families group is also soon to restart face-to-face sessions, having successfully continued online by Zoom over the lockdown.
Our 10-bed hospital unit is operating as usual and we are able to take referrals from health professionals for people living with HIV who could benefit from the service. The adaptations here have largely been in ensuring that we use PPE when we provide patient care. The unit is laid out to allow for distancing.
How did you adapt the space to allow for social distancing etc?
The Beacon has put stringent measures in place to ensure that we are Covid-19 secure and that all staff, visitor, and inpatients are safe. Our main meeting room was measured to be adaptable for Day Service groups, meetings, and any future small training sessions. There is another, smaller, meeting room which is suitable for 1-2-1 sessions.
Office accommodation has been reworked to ensure safe distancing between colleagues and two rooms have been made available as changing rooms for staff.
The canteen area has also been modified to ensure that staff can eat their meals in a safe environment. We are fortunate that during the warm weather we have a lovely garden area with a large table to eat meals at.
In our hospital unit we are working to clinical guidelines on PPE etc, but, once a patient has tested negative for Covid-19, they are able to move about the building and the garden with a face covering.
Our shops are open and working with distancing measures in place. We have fitted screens at the tills.
Are people embracing coming back or are many preferring to stay home?
When guidelines first eased, there was interest in returning to face-to-face sessions. I think that there was a feeling of returning to some form of normality. Some, who had been isolating, had really missed the physical interaction with others. For others, telephone mentoring did not have the same ‘personal’ quality as a face-to-face session. I sense that this was one of the issues with mentoring via Zoom. That it was somehow not as intimate a discussion through a screen as in being in the same room with someone. Over the last week, with the reintroduction of stricter measures, some volunteers and service users have stated their reluctance to carry on using public transport and so choosing to stay home. We will have to see how long these new measures remain in place and then how we again adjust to maintain contact and keep volunteers and clients engaged.
What is the current situation regarding volunteer training and how important is it to get more volunteers on board in the wake of the pandemic?
At present there are enough trained volunteer Peer Mentors to meet the demand for the service. We do though have a waiting list of people interested in training as volunteer Peer Mentors. This is really encouraging and goes to show just how supportive of each other the HIV community continues to be.
With our training partner, Project 100 of Positively UK, we are exploring the viability of online training for Peer Mentors through Zoom. There are still some aspects to iron out regarding length of training sessions, role play exercises, and retaining standards acceptable to the Open College network (OCN). I have no doubt that we will have virtual training in place sooner rather than later.
Volunteers are working in our shops every day and assisting us with fundraising. We have had to change the nature of our volunteering to cope with changed circumstances, but we hope to bring our wonderful Team Beacon members back as soon as circumstances allow.
What are your plans for World Aids Day?
The Beacon works with a group of other organisations on the WAD vigil, which is usually held in New Steine Gardens on the day. This year we are looking at online options as it is unlikely that the vigil will go ahead as usual. We also use the day as an opportunity to reinforce our messages that HIV has not ‘gone away’. Also, that, while the majority of people living with HIV are leading full lives, there are also many for whom the virus creates daily challenges of mental or physical ill health, stigma and social isolation.
The Sussex Beacon provides specialist careand support for people living with HIV.
