Bringing volunteers back into our hospitals safely to support NHS staff and their patients O
ur Crisis Response Volunteers made a huge contribution at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, helping us deliver over 170,000 meals to hospital workers, managing our free shops for NHS staff and carrying out many more essential tasks. Now we're working to make sure we can re-introduce volunteers back into day-to-day roles in our hospitals where it's safe and practical for us to do so. At the same time, we're also building up a reserve team of volunteers who will be ready and available to help our hospitals in the event of another emergency or a surge in Covid-19 cases.
“We're building up a reserve team of volunteers who will be ready to help our hospitals in an emergency" Sam Morris, Head of Volunteering at Imperial Health Charity, said: "We're extremely grateful to the hundreds of people who stepped forward to become Crisis Response Volunteers during the first wave of Covid-19. Without this incredible effort we would not have been able to provide such exceptional support to our hospitals during this time." To find out more about volunteering at our hospitals, visit: imperialcharity.org.uk/volunteer
ABOVE: Crisis Response Volunteer Jay Roome delivers meals to staff at Hammersmith Hospital BELOW: Vian Shathur talks about her experience as a Crisis Response Volunteer at Charing Cross Hospital.
Volunteer Q&A: Vian Shathur Why did you decide to volunteer? It was a chance to help during the pandemic. I'm a fit, young and healthy person - it seemed like a waste not trying to do anything. What did your role involve? Mostly distributing lunches and dinners to the Covid wards at
Charing Cross Hospital. Later on we managed the charity's free 'Haircuts for Heroes' service for NHS staff. What was your most memorable moment? One of my favourite memories from volunteering is how the catering staff made us feel so welcome. Despite the difficult situation, we still managed to laugh most days.
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