Lofty Heights are a non-profit organisation providing specialist decluttering, deep cleaning and garden services working closely with the NHS, local authorities, and charities providing specialist support to more vulnerable people in the community.
Their team members have been at the forefront working in the homes of patients ready for discharge, but who risk blocking hospital beds because they need help to create space in their homes for hospital beds or mobility equipment to be installed. The funding they have received from the Suffolk Coronavirus Community Fund has enabled them to purchase key-safes and a drill to enable the fit of vital key-safes at the properties of patients who live alone. Usually the team has to go to the hospital to collect keys from the patient and then go back to the hospital to return the keys. Having the key safe and the ability for the team to install them (because of having a decent drill), keys can now be left safely at the property removing the necessity to make a return trip to hospitals to return keys. House keys are now readily available when the patient is escorted home from hospital and available for equipment delivery and visiting home carers, removing the need for them also to have to run around after keys.
In the last two weeks they have carried out over 17 jobs, enabling those 17 individuals to get or stay at home, freeing up 17 beds for our hospitals to deal with the current crisis. That also amounts to 17 families that have been helped to ‘stay home, stay safe, and protect the NHS’.
Please pass on our thanks to your funders. We are so grateful and delighted to have been awarded this funding, because at this time of high demand on our service returning keys to patients in hospital is very time consuming and places our staff at greater risk of contracting the virus or spreading it though the community. All round this grant is a tremendous help to our team, patients, their families and other visiting professionals, so thank you so very much.
How you can help
If you would like to find out more about how you can support our work with Suffolk's VCFSE sector - please see the different ways in which you can give below.