Coronavirus: Cancer surgeon expands red and green card scheme to help vulnerable
Written by News on 26/04/2020
A doctor has expanded a volunteering scheme to help vulnerable people who are self-isolating during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Shilen Patel, a head and neck cancer surgeon at a London NHS hospital, has helped 300,000 households get access to support from volunteers while in lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The scheme, called Red Green Cards, entails people sticking a red or green card in their window, which signals to their neighbours if they need help or not.
The green card means they are happy and safe, the red card means they require assistance.
For those who are wary of opening their doors to strangers, Dr Patel has partnered with Samaritans and Age UK and printed the numbers of the charities on the cards so people can also ask for help through the organisations. The COVID-19 Mutual Aid community scheme is also involved.
The cards are either posted through people’s letterboxes or can be printed from the Red Green Cards website.
A total of 300 volunteers are currently helping the scheme, which has so far expanded across London, Manchester, Brighton, Ipswich and Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
Dr Patel, who first began rolling out the scheme a month ago when the UK went into lockdown, was inspired by his father’s neighbours, who displayed a rainbow in their window, as part of the Rainbow Trail, and included their phone number on the poster should any of their neighbours need help.
He then was contacted by a group of neighbours in Yorkshire who told him about the red and green card system and decided to implement it further. Word has since spread after volunteers set up a website and social media channels.
He told Sky News: “The response has been amazing so far, I’m so happy that it has grown to such a big scale. But I know 300,000 homes is just a drop in the ocean. We’ve got a long way to go. We need to avoid people feeling desperate and being forced to leave the safety of their homes to get the things they need.”
During his working hours, Dr Patel has been redeployed to an intensive treatment unit at his hospital where he gives patients proning treatments. This involves turning people onto their chests and stomachs for 16 hours a day to help them breathe better.
He said: “To be honest, it’s quite exhausting because I’ll work long days turning patients and then try to coordinate the volunteers in my free time. But the reason that I keep doing it is I meet amazing people who are doing wonderful things and it just gives me more energy.”
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Dr Patel is appealing for more volunteers to expand the scheme further and is also fundraising to refund the costs of the companies who have printed the cards.
To donate towards Red Green Cards, register as a volunteer or download the cards, visit: www.redgreencards.com
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Cancer surgeon expands red and green card scheme to help vulnerable
