Ahead of National Carers Week, an important new charitable initiative has been launched today to ensure that carers in the UK and overseas have access to essential PPE to protect them and those for whom they care from COVID19.
Kit4Carers and the CareTech Foundation have formed a significant partnership in a move that will turbo-charge K4C’s ambition to raise £1million to source and distribute free PPE to those carers in the community who are risking their lives during Covid-19.
The agreement means that Kit4Carers will be hosted by the CareTech Foundation, adding strength and credibility to their fundraising efforts. The timing is significant as Kit4Carers’ first consignment of gloves, gowns and masks arrives in the UK within the next few days. This is the first batch of several orders already placed and will be distributed to carers in the South West from our Berkshire warehouse in early June.
NHS and care workers are, quite rightly, recognised for their dedication during the Coronavirus crisis and the challenge of ensuring that they have the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) has been well-documented. However, outside hospitals and care homes there are over a million carers in the UK, and many more throughout the world, who look after the most vulnerable people in their communities who face a shortage of even the most basic PPE.
Kit4Carers has been set up specifically to source and distribute PPE to carers who work in care homes or give care in people’s own houses. Community carers will benefit from a free consignment of much-needed personal protection equipment, consisting of disposable gloves, aprons and face masks.
Kit4Carer’s co-founder, Dr Pramod Prabhakaran said: “We know that the lack of access to PPE for NHS workers has received a lot of publicity – but less is said about carers who look after the most vulnerable people in our communities. Kit4Carers believes community carers should have the same access to high quality PPE as NHS workers – that’s why our campaign sets out to raise £1m to address this issue.”
You can donate online to Kit4Carers on our online giving page
Jonathan Freeman, CEO of CareTech Foundation, said “The Foundation is delighted to be supporting this important new initiative, adding a further boost to the support we have provided to help the social care sector to respond to the massive challenges of the COVID19 pandemic.”