Falkirk Safebase team launch appeal to help hospital patients

Most recently, they launched an appeal for new nightwear for people in Forth Valley Hospital where visitors are not allowed – leaving some patients without pyjamas for their hospital stay.

They now have collection points at Tesco in Redding, Camelon and Falkirk Retail Park and the donations are already flooding in.

This appeal follows a successful one for toiletries for the hospital.

“Ironically, we got so many that we are now able to give them to local care homes and food banks,” said Safebase volunteer Richard McLennan.

But these collections for the NHS are just the tip of the iceberg of work that Safebase volunteers have been doing to support community efforts.

“It’s been amazing to see the community supporting each other the way they are doing,” said Richard.  “It’s brilliant the way people have stepped up and it’s all been community led.”

In normal times, Safebase volunteers provide a drop-in medical centre during busy weekend evenings in Falkirk to help take the pressure off the emergency services.

Under the umbrella of Falkirk Delivers, for the past ten years Safebase has been an effective partnership between Falkirk Council, the ambulance service, police, and street pastors. 

But with all pubs and clubs now shut, the volunteers decided they could help in different ways – linking up with lots of charities and businesses to help coordinate the community effort.

“We’ve kind of acting as a central hub now,” Richard explains.

Not only have they been delivering prescriptions and helping to deliver shopping, they have also worked with Falkirk’s Asda to patrol the queue, looking for vulnerable people who might need a bit of help.

They’ve discovered that this is a good way to find people who might need a bit of support.

“A lot of these people are scared and worried and don’t want to ask for help and I think that’s the biggest problem,” said Richard.

“Once we’ve done their shopping or got their prescriptions a couple of times,  they know that support is there and they know they can ask for help if they need it.”

“Often they have been contacted by the council and the NHS but some people don’t like official letters, so we can give them a personal touch to make sure they feel safe and supported.”

Their position in the heart of the town centre also helped to link up the many businesses, who suddenly found themselves with food they couldn’t use, with food banks and charities urgently looking for ways to help people going hungry.

They now help the food banks and other community groups right across the district with deliveries and some of the shop workers who can’t work at the moment have joined them to help out.

Richard has been hugely impressed by the community spirit they have found everywhere in recent weeks as people rush to help each other get through the crisis and making sure no-one is left out.

“I think the way that Falkirk Council has engaged volunteers and third sector organisations is phenomenal,” he said.

And he is in no doubt the appeal for nightwear will get another generous response.

“We will probably get too much but people know that we will take anything extra where it’s also needed,” he said.