When and why did you start working with at Volunteer Centre Hackney?
Hello, I’m Claire and I’ve been the Community Health Champions Programme Co-Ordinator since January 2022. I’d taken years off from project work in corporate banks to raise my children, and during that time I’d started volunteering. I realised I enjoyed the voluntary sector and wanted to help my local borough but missed the project co-ordination side of things – so ta da! This is the perfect combination!
What makes the service you’re part of special and important? How do volunteers and the community benefit from it?
The Community Health Champions programme is an important way to help support City & Hackney residents improve their health and wellbeing – local Community Champions share trusted health information, signpost to services, and feedback insights from local residents to help identify the real health needs of the communities. Since taking part, Community Champions feel more connected to their neighbours are proud to be a be a voice for their community; as well as enjoying training and becoming more knowledgeable about health matters and local services.
What do you enjoy about working at VCH?
I’m so lucky to work with the 200+ Community Champions – the amazing wealth of knowledge and experience they have is inspiring, as too is the number of different ways they support so many different communities in City & Hackney.
It’s also really interesting to hear from lots of different health professionals, get tips to try and prevent some conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes and see the local data – such as the low uptake of MMR vaccines in Hackney. The insights that the Community Champions share help to change communications, where and when vaccines are offered and more – which all helps protect everyone living in the borough.
What are you most proud of? Are there any highlights that stand out to you from your time working at VCH?
One of my favourite outcomes was that some Community Champions were trained to measure blood pressure at their community centres. High blood pressure is known as the silent killer – often the first time you know that you have it is when you end up in Accident & Emergency. Because the blood pressure monitoring was done in a familiar place by a familiar face, a resident discovered they had dangerously high BP.
It was great to hear that with the Community Champions advice they saw a GP straight away and have been given medication to get it under control. I believe they’ve joined the chair-aerobics session at the Champions community group too. One Community Champion even referred to the programme as “the fourth emergency service”!
If Claire’s story has inspired you to help improve healthcare for your community – from GP services to access to treatments – find out more about the Community Health Champions service here.