Loneliness, isolation and mental health issues are some of the side effects the UK government lock down measures to help stop the spread of the deadly COVID 19 pandemic has brought to millions of people across the country.
“This is the first call I am receiving in over five months now”, a 64 year old woman told one of our volunteers when she rang to check how she was doing. The Woman from the Caribbean island of Jamaica lives in Toxteth and lost her husband ten years ago. They had no children and she now lives alone in a two bedroom bungalow. Our volunteer will be calling her at least twice a week henceforth to check if she is ok and connect her to any services if the need arises.
The Jamaican woman is one of dozens of residents Citizen Outreach Coalition (COC) will be contacting to reduce the stress that lockdown has exacerbated as many more people get isolated across Liverpool-a city with more than half a million people. The project titled “Staying Connected, Staying Safe” was made possible with a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund with support from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports.
Friendly Volunteers
Ten volunteers across Liverpool will continue making calls to check on lonely and isolated [people until March 31 2021 when the project is expected to officially close but “…we hope the friendships, contacts and connections created as part of the project last long after that date” according to COC Project Manager Francis Ngwa. “That is the little we can do as this dangerous virus has so far killed more than 100.000 people across the UK and made it impossible for some people to even attend the funerals of their loved ones” Mr Ngwa added.
A Community Life survey commissioned by the office of National Statistics 2016/2017 indicated at least 5% of adults across the UK felt lonely “often”, always, or some of the time. This was before the 2020 national lockdowns so that figure would have grown considerably
Citizen Outreach Coalition has a duty as a community based organisation to help reduce this isolation and loneliness by talking to some community members. That is why it is running the present project according to Volunteer coordinator Kiven Emmanuel
Please join us in reducing loneliness by calling on old friends, relatives, neighbours and anyone you think may be lonely and need to hear another human voice
