Supporting Healthcare Heroes UK: An Update

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Supporting Healthcare Heroes UK was born out of a sense of outrage that healthcare workers with Long Covid, those same people we used to clap as heroes on a Thursday evening, were being made redundant from their jobs with no support (financial or otherwise). We are currently waiting to hear from the Charity Commission in relation to our application to become a charity but thought it was timely to provide an update about what we plan to do when we achieve charity status.

Who are we?

Since we published a blog in March 2023 we have expanded our team to seven trustees and are delighted that Roger Kline and Ann Keen have agreed to join us as patrons. Information about the team can be accessed by clicking here.

We are still looking for two trustees. If this is something you might be interested in, more information and a role descriptor is available here. We are particularly keen to hear from people with experience of:

·??????fundraising, preferably for a charity

·??????using social media to increase engagement with a cause

SHH seeks to ensure our team of trustees is as diverse as possible and so we encourage applications from candidates from underrepresented groups.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

What do we plan to do?

Once we have charitable status we plan to:

1. offer financial support to healthcare workers suffering from Long Covid who are in need,
2. offer advice and learning to healthcare workers with Long Covid who need assistance in returning to work, or who need to exit their employment in the most beneficial way.
3. provide advice and training to managers and policymakers on how best to include strategies to allow Long Covid sufferers in the workplace to adjust their hours or their roles.
4. provide education in the form of publications and online seminars for healthcare workers living with Long Covid, managers and policymakers on what to expect from the condition, and how best to cope with it.
5. raise awareness and support research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Long Covid, sharing such research with UK strategic decision-makers so that they can be best informed on how to support those living with Long Covid.

Clearly what we can do is dependent on several factors including how much money we manage to raise. We are currently looking at prioritising what we do first.

How can you help?

We are looking for people to help us in a variety of ways.

Spread the word via social media

We are keen to build up our following on social media. To do this we need as many people as possible to:

• Follow us on Twitter (@SupportingHH_UK) and Instagram.
• Like, comment on, and retweet our posts on Twitter.?
• Like and comment on posts on Instagram, adding relevant content to your story.?
• Follow our Facebook page and engage with the content we post, through liking, commenting and/or sharing posts.
• Tag us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts where you think the content is pertinent to our cause, raising our awareness of emerging information, articles, and developments.
• Tell your family and friends about us, asking them to join us on our social media campaign.

?Could you be more actively involved?

We are looking for people with and without Long Covid to be become actively involved with our work. We realise it is hard for many people with Long Covid to commit to undertaking things on a regular basis and given this we are looking are looking for people to be involved in several different ways.

Advocates:?

• Healthcare workers with experience of Long Covid who ensure the charity has representation from across a wide range of professions and roles.?
• Work with the trustees in a variety of role to ensure the support and advice we are providing is relevant and up to date.
• Advocates, may for example, be part of one of our committees, post on social media on our behalf, support the running of a support group, and/or help run or advertise an online seminar.

Social media champions:

• Actively promote the work of SHH on social media by retweeting/liking and commenting on our posts.?
• This will be crucial to our success as a charity and, for people living with Long Covid, is something that can be done from bed!

Volunteers: Assist with the work of the charity in a variety of ways – e.g. admin tasks, fund raising, event planning/assisting.

Storytellers: Highlight the need for the charity by sending us brief testimonials, recording vlogs and/or writing blogs about their Long Covid experiences. (Examples of brief testimonials that have been sent in previously can be seen here.)

For more information about how to apply to become more actively involved in our work please fill in the form here or email us at: [email protected].

Fundraising

While we wait to become a registered charity, we have set up a JustGiving page. Please give if you can and ask your friends and relatives to do so too.

Once the charity is established and registered, we hope to be in position to start giving financial hardship grants to affected healthcare workers in the coming months.

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