Highlights from the Hubs - Friday, 24 July

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Welcome

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Hello everyone, thanks for taking a look at the latest Highlights from the Hubs!

Here at the countywide hub, we’re working hard to make sure that everyone who is shielding – around 32,000 people across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – have all the information and support they need in place for when the shielding programme is paused from 1 August. Just a small number are likely to continue to need support from the hub, at least initially, although we remain here in case that changes. To help people to see the sorts of changes that have happened outside whilst they’ve been shielding, we’ve produced a short video of a shopping experience, and you can read about that in this week’s edition.

The countywide hub, alongside our amazing district and city council partners, are very focused now on supporting the management of any local outbreaks of Coronavirus. Our job is to make sure that people affected by these outbreaks in our communities have all the support they need if they need to self-isolate. We’re building a package of support that will mirror many of the same arrangements we set up to support shielding and vulnerable people so far – for example, help with shopping for food and essential supplies, running errands, or being available on the phone to provide information or befriending support.

We’re also working closely with our partners in the voluntary, community and faith sectors to support the important outbreak management work. They have a vital role to play in ensuring all of our residents stay safe, follow the guidance, and know what to do in the event of an outbreak.

We’ll keep you updated on how all of this work is progressing!

And finally, we’re reducing the frequency of our newsletter to fortnightly for the summer months, so look out for the next edition in two weeks time!

Thanks again for reading, and do please stay safe and well.

Adrian Chapman, Service Director: Communities and Partnerships, Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council

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Video launched to explain the new normal to shielding community

shielding video

A video has been produced by the Countywide Hub which will help people who are shielding who have not left home for months to feel confident visiting supermarkets and pharmacies again.

As Adrian has said above, staff at The Hub, which is operated by Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, are working closely with people who are shielding to give them the advice and support that they need to transition from shielding at the end of this month.

Whilst the support officers who talk to them regularly have been discussing the changes and how they best can individually prepare, it can be difficult to convey how life has changed through phone calls.

So the team at the hub has pulled together a video to help people navigate around supermarkets and pharmacies before they visit them to help them understand the changes and explain why they are in place.

The video – filmed in Tesco Hampton and a pharmacy in Newborough – details all the signage you will see as a customer and why this is now in place.  It takes the viewer on a mini tour around both sites and explains 2m distancing and plastic shielding screens at till points to protect the customer and employee.

Nikitta Vanterpool, Operational Lead COVID-19 Co-ordination Hub, said: “We realised quickly that a show and tell approach for our community would work best so we harnessed the power of video.  This way community members can both see the physical changes in stores as well as listening to the staff and thus feel reassured as to why these changes are in place.

“Lockdown has been a challenging time for many and we are determined to ensure that their individual transitions will be seamless.  We have listened to their concerns and we have produced this video to help them visualise the new normal.  For those without online access we are supplying photos and text so they know what to expect.”

The video is available to view here.

Support officers from the Hub will continue to work with the shielded community until 31 July.  After this time if you need support and you don't have friends, family or neighbours to help you, please visit www.peterborough.gov.uk/coronavirus or www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/coronavirus or call 0345 045 5219.


Library staff continue to help homeless

Dedicated Cambridgeshire Mobile Library staff are continuing to help support rough sleepers in Cambridge, having delivered over 10,000 meals to those in need since the start of lockdown.

Over the past four months, mobile library staff have distributed meals to more than 80 people three times a day, along with toiletries, clothes, books, magazines, and jigsaws as requested.

This is part of ongoing work alongside a wider network of organisations, including the Salvation Army, who have risen to the challenge of providing for the homeless in the city.

The service had initially offered its helpful staff and fleet of three mobiles to support local foodbanks - whilst mobile libraries remain closed to the public.

Staff were then approached by agencies in Cambridge to support a joint venture aiming to deliver hot meals to rough sleepers housed in temporary accommodation during the lockdown.

Meals are freshly prepared by volunteers from the Wintercomfort day centre and Sally Ann’s charity and other local church groups. They are then loaded onto the Mobile Library for delivery to hotels providing rough sleepers with temporary accommodation.

Meals include curry and rice, baked potatoes with chilli con carne, sausage casserole and sausages mash and gravy. Recipients also get a bag with sandwiches, crisps, chocolate, yogurt and cereal to last them the rest of the day.

Library staff are able to adhere to social distancing guidance whilst at the hotels by wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including plastic aprons, gloves and face masks. A team of volunteers remain inside the vehicle and distribute the meals from the back, while another volunteer stays outside to check the names of meal recipients, note who has received food and record any other welfare-related queries, which are then fed back daily.

Councillor Steve Criswell, chairman of the communities and partnership committee, said: “I’m really proud of our teams who continue to go the extra mile to help those less fortunate during these difficult times. It’s really heart-warming to see and I would like to thank those involved for their sterling efforts. We remain fully committed to helping our communities as much as possible.”

Watch a video by the Salvation Army about the initiative here.


Find lots of support online

Lots of information for people who have been shielding is available to view on the websites of both Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council.

As well as information about what support will be on offer after the national programme pauses on 31 July, people can also find support available where they live via the Peterborough Information Network and the Cambridgeshire Online Directory, both of which provide residents and families with information on organisations, services and events across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

For more information visit www.peterborough.gov.uk/pin or www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/cambridgeshire-online-directory


Are you Covidsavvy or a Covidiot

Residents are being asked to take a Corona-Quiz to find out how much they know about what you can and can't do to protect themselves, family and friends from Coronavirus.

As the rules around households, bubbles and socialising have been updated it can be hard for some people to understand the guidance when it comes to keeping safe.

So the councils have designed a fun but informative online Corona-Quiz to help remind residents of what they can and can't do.  The quiz can be found here and will run until the end of the month. People are being encouraged to share it with their friends.

So far almost 2,000 residents have completed the quiz with an average score of 75%.  Residents are pretty Covidsavvy with 99% knowing that they cannot leave self-isolation early if showing no symptoms.

However 61% of residents wrongly guessed that ‘they need to take a test if they've no symptoms and have been in close contact with someone who has been confirmed as having coronavirus’.

This is wrong - you should only take a test if you have symptoms although you must continue to self-isolate for 14 days. If you take a test and it’s negative you could still develop symptoms and infect other people up to 14 days after being in contact with someone who has got the virus.