Exemplar Health Care Ensures Care Workers Receive Free Meals And Food Deliveries During Health Pandemic

The unprecedented health pandemic caused by COVID-19 has placed a great deal of pressure on UK care homes – and in recognition of this and as a thank you for the dedication shown by its employees, Exemplar Health Care has created a new package to offer employees access to free food deliveries, takeaways and financial support for those with children who are eligible for free school meals.

Exemplar Health Care, a specialist nursing care home provider that supports adults with complex needs, is offering extra support to all of its staff across its 32 care homes. This support includes:

• free meals for all employees during shifts, so that they don’t need to leave the care home to get food or worry about bringing food into work.
• a takeaway pizza delivery for all staff, every week, at each care home.
• free food ordering service and 10% off their food shop by ordering their personal shopping through catering supplier, Birchall Food Service
• financial support for employees whose children are eligible to receive free school meals (equating to £2.00 per child, per shift worked Monday to Friday during term time).

This additional support will help these key workers, who support people living with complex needs, to continue to go to work and ease the burden of either financial worries or getting access to the things that they would normally find easy, such as shopping.

With strict instructions in place at the 32 care homes to ensure that service users are kept safe from the virus, such as restrictions on visitors, pre-entry screenings to all essential colleagues and up-to-date training about infection prevention and control, extra help from care workers to restore some normality for service users has been vital.

Lynne Waters, HR Director of Exemplar Health Care, said: “I’m extremely proud of all our colleagues who are doing all they can to continue to provide the best high-quality care. As a thank you for their continued hard work, we have launched this package hoping that it will make their lives easier at this difficult time.

“As the Government continues to control social contact and limit travel, we recognise that some people might struggle to get to and from work if public transport is reduced or cancelled, so taxi journeys will be remunerated.”

Since all non-essential visits have been limited, Exemplar Health Care is purchasing iPads for all care homes to keep service users in touch with their family members and friends via video calls, making this time a bit easier for all.

In addition to purchasing iPads, Exemplar Health Care has reached out to local schools to offer support, Lynne Waters, continues: “To brighten up the day of people living in our care homes, we have also launched an ‘Every Day Letters’ campaign so that school children and their parents can send letters, poems and drawings. We have already been inundated with lovely letters and drawings!”

The specialist nursing care home provider is ahead of the curve in terms of ensuring their colleagues’ mental health and wellbeing is looked after during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, by giving them access to an Employee Assistance Programme with a 24-hour helpline and free counselling, or encouraging them to reach out to the designated Mental Health First Aiders at each care home.