Ha-PPE to volunteer to support local NHS services

Self-employed Wayne Dawson and Andy Roy from Sleaford have been putting their spare time during the coronavirus lockdown to great use - by volunteering to deliver Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the county.

Their willingness to give up their own time to support the local community is in the spotlight for this year’s national Volunteer Week (1-7 June).

The best mates volunteered to provide daily deliveries of (PPE) including gowns, hand gel and gloves to community hospitals and nurses to help Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS).

Andy, a self-employed property developer and Wayne, a former retained firefighter for 16 years at Sleaford Fire Station who usually works as an electrician/satellite tv aerial installer.

But with the coronavirus lockdown, the pair decided they wanted to fill their unexpected spare time with something worthwhile.

Andy said: “My wife works for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust and suggested I could volunteer to deliver much needed PPE across the county to hospitals and community nurses.

I’ve been out and about five days a week with my van packed full of PPE. I’ve been careful to follow the Government guidance and maintain social distancing – ringing people’s door bells and leaving the PPE on the ground outside.

I’d say to anyone thinking of volunteering: just do it. It’s so rewarding and it’s the right thing to do. You just have to think about the consequences of PPE not getting to those who need it and the impact it would have on nurses and patients. That soon focuses your mind to realise that volunteering is so worthwhile.”

Wayne Dawson added: “The demand for PPE was so great it meant that Andy couldn’t cover all the deliveries across the county, so I was only too happy to give him a hand.

It’s been incredibly worthwhile volunteering to help the NHS, to help the local community and it’s kept me sane giving me something to do during lockdown.

Volunteering is about doing something for the local community – something I know only too well from my time as a retained firefighter. It’s just something you get on and do.”

Ceri Lennon, Director of People and Innovation at LCHS said: “It’s thanks to the selfless support of local people like Andy and Wayne that we have been able to maintain the services our patients rely on at this very challenging time.

Volunteers have made a real difference by offering support when we were working at full stretch. I’d like to say thank you to Andy, Wayne and all our volunteers for your support.”

LCHS currently has 35 volunteers providing support across the organisation with a number of opportunities still available including:

• Cardiac rehabilitation, administration and general volunteers at the three Community Hospitals
• Charitable Funds volunteers to support fundraising activities
• 15 Steps Challenge volunteers to consider ways to improve care from the patient’s viewpoint
• Patient Led Care Assessment volunteers to improve our hospital services
• Readers’ Panel volunteers to review publications and documents published by the Trust for plain English and clarity.

To find out more about volunteering with LCHS, to register your details or to make comments and suggestions to support volunteering at LCHS, please email lhnt.volunteer4lchs@nhs.net who will forward your interest on to your local LCHS base/ward.