With the world battling the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and increasing levels of fear and uncertainty, harnessing the power of community action has never been more important. Across the world communities are adapting in the face of adversity. Many existing flood and emergency volunteer groups have extended their services to offer support to people self-isolating and new groups have formed to assist the most vulnerable with accessing food and medical supplies and reducing isolation. In response to this, Communities Prepared has developed training resources to help Community Emergency Volunteers and spontaneous local groups better understand public health emergencies and their potential role in supporting community resilience at this time.
To ensure we provide the most up to date information that is reflective of latest government guidance on Covid-19 and responds to the needs of community volunteer groups, we will make periodical updates to our public health training module and cue card.
Our latest update was made on 30/03/2020 to reflect latest government guidance, the launch of the NHS volunteering programme and to incorporate feedback from key partner organisations. You can see the marked changes to the presentation and the cue card or simply download via the buttons above.
These resources have been designed to be used by anyone keen to volunteer and support vulnerable members of their community during a public health emergency such as the current Covid-19 pandemic. The information provided is reflective of the wider context, but can be adapted and tailored by volunteers and groups for use in their own community.
For any questions on these updates, please get in touch at communitiesprepared@groundwork.org.uk
Course objectives
- What is a public health emergency
- Types of public health emergency
- Pandemics
- Temperature extremes
- Hazardous chemical or bacteria release
- Local communicable disease
- Who does what in a public health emergency
- Your role before a public health emergency
- Your role during a public health emergency
- Your role after a public health emergency
- Safety during a public health emergency
- Triggering a call out
- Coronavirus pre-briefing
These materials are a clear, concise and informative way that community resilience and knowledge is developed, both for an event such as COVID-19 that we are currently facing, but also future events we will encounter with, for example, changing climates and the knock-on effects on communities, large and small.
Dr Tony Robertson, Lecturer in Social Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Stirling
Thank you to the University of Stirling’s Extremes in Science and Society research programme for helping shape the development of this public health module
The module has been invaluable in our community response to the ongoing public health emergency – it’s helped to inform both Councillors and volunteers, to make sure that people are acting safely and are getting the information they need to support each other.
Councillor Dom Newton, Leader of Bradford on Avon Town Council
Contact us to find out about online training sessions with one of our training officers or call our non-emergency advice line on 0117 910 3930 if you have any questions. You can download the training pack for your own use and adapt it accordingly.
Hear Senior Project Officer for the programme, Paul Robertson, delivering the training as a webinar to volunteers in Wiltshire. Listen here.
