Essex Housing Awards 2022 - We Won!
We’re so pleased to be announced as the joint winners of ‘Delivery Services for Vulnerable People’ at the Essex Housing Awards 2022!
At the start of the pandemic, the Estuary Housing and Communities team identified a need for extra support within our resident community in Essex. As people were asked to isolate and external support services became less accessible, we created a task group to identify our vulnerable residents who may be at risk or require additional support. Customer, Housing, Income and Support teams worked together to ensure anyone that might need our help was identified and contacted. We identified and engaged with 281 residents and quickly realised this would be an ongoing project, providing mid/long-term support.
A number of actions were taken including:
• referrals to specialist support agencies
• provision of food and/or food vouchers
• assistance with energy costs
• help with prescriptions
• regular phone calls (especially for people who had limited contact with others)
We also created a Communication Campaign with one key call-to-action: anyone impacted by COVID-19 could contact us for support and advice. Following this campaign, our support database grew to 424 households.
We received a significant amount of positive feedback in relation to this initiative:
Mrs J said it was very kind of Estuary to think about people and make sure they were okay, and she and her husband appreciated it very much indeed.
Ms B thanked Estuary for taking the time to check in on her, saying it was very reassuring to know that there are people at Estuary who care about their residents and make sure they are okay.
Ms D said that she was very appreciative that we had taken the time to call to check on her and that "it means a lot to know you care".
Mr H said that he and his wife are still isolating. He confirmed that he gets shopping delivered thanks to arrangements that were previously made by Estuary. He said he was very grateful for everything we have been doing and said it was wonderful that we took the time to check on him and his wife to see how they were, and he really appreciates that.
Ms M said that it was a lovely thing that Estuary were calling to check on all the elderly people and said, "you are all marvellous people, thank you."
Collecting our award: Helen Gregory, Paul Murphy and Susan Harland. Thank you to our whole team for your consistent care and dedication.