Coronavirus - Update on Age UK BRWF’s support and services from CEO Sam Humphray (17th March)

Following the updated Government Guidance (16th March 2020) regarding Coronavirus (and in particular the advice for the over-70s to avoid unnecessary social contact and for people with the ‘most serious health conditions’ must avoid almost all social contact from this weekend) we have been assessing the impact upon our support and services, and have taken the following decisions in order to comply with the guidance and to help keep members of our community safe;

• All of our Activities, Groups and Events will be suspended at the earliest opportunity. Members of the Age UK BRWF Team will be contacting all those affected to ensure that we can establish means for maintaining ongoing, regular contact in order that we can continue to provide help and support
• We will be suspending our face to face Befriending service and will be replacing this service with a telephone support service wherever possible. Our Care Call service will continue as normal (and we are currently seeking opportunities to extend this service)
• We will be suspending our normal ‘At Home’ service from Friday (20th March 2020) in order that we can we can focus upon the shopping element of the service. We are currently in the process of contacting all of our existing clients in addition to reviewing our capacity to support new clients with a shopping service (this will continue to be a chargeable service)
• Our Community Foot Care service will be suspended with immediate effect
• With regards to our Information and Advice service, we are suspending all face-to-face appointments and outreach services (including the weekly appointment service at Redditch Library and the Tulip Tree Centre, plus the I&A Pop Up Surgeries) and are focusing upon our telephone service (01527 570490) to ensure that people continue to have access to information, advice and support
• Based on the current advice, our Retail Shops will continue to open as normal

We will continue to provide updates regarding Age UK BRWF’s support and services, in line with the latest Government Advice.

We are grateful for the various offers of support that we as a local charity have received and are heartened by the various initiatives and acts of kindness that are already taking place to support people across North Worcestershire. We would encourage everyone to keep in touch with and support older friends, family and neighbours to enable us, as a charity, to focus on how we can best support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities.

These are unprecedented times and we thank you for your understanding with these changes.