Proud NHS pensioner supports NHS staff during COVID-19

Janet’s Inspiring Story

Being in our late 70s, my husband and I were amongst those advised to self -quarantine for 12 weeks when the pandemic hit.

As a proud NHS pensioner who worked for the NHS for nearly 30 years in various roles, and having a daughter who is a nurse, I was keen to help support the NHS staff in any way I could. I originally applied to be an NHS Volunteer but couldn’t be accepted due to not having a Smartphone to download the app.

My daughter mentioned having seen a Facebook group calling for volunteers to make scrubs for the  NHS staff who were in desperate need, so I joined the group to see how I could get involved.

I was able to get a basic pattern from the site but needed to source the material for the scrubs. Therefore, I reached out to friends and family who rallied together and sent material, duvet covers – in fact, anything that could be made into scrub sets. I also received lots of pillowcases which gave me the idea to make scrubs bags too. Neighbours heard about my work and also supported me by raiding their laundry shelves to donate materials of all sorts for me to use.

On the first Thursday evening ‘Clap for our carers’ I was the only person in our cul-de-sac who was out clapping. As a result of my work on the scrubs, the whole street was out every Thursday evening clapping for our carers. Moreover, we also have a daily Coffee morning (socially distanced of course – each in our own gardens) which has cheered us all up. Since it’s predominantly the over 70s on our street and some people living on their own, the Coffee morning and chats helped us all to connect and alleviate the isolation and loneliness. It’s something we all look forward to each day.

I’ve lost count of the number of scrub sets I have now sewed. I’ve also had requests for scrubs bags from the community nursing teams, which I have happily met. I plan to carry on sewing for as long as there is a need in the community.

I truly hope that the kindness and compassion towards each other that we’ve seen over the past few weeks will continue even after this crisis has passed. If there’s anything positive we can take from this situation, being kinder and thinking of other people a little more is what I would wish for.