December 7, 2023
As the world continues to adjust to the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, we wanted to update you on True Colours’ response to the crisis so far.
Almost all the work supported by True Colours involves partner organisations which are directly involved in the Covid-19 response in some way. Many of our partners are delivering frontline care to children and families, others advocate to ensure that the voices of disabled children or those with palliative care needs are heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. In Africa, our partners are working in hard-to-reach communities providing palliative care.
The True Colours team has been humbled by the dedication of the organisations we fund to the children, families and patients they support and we are proud to be associated with them.
Given the direct involvement of these organisations in the Covid-19 response, the majority of our emergency funding of £1.47 million has focused on helping them to respond quickly to the crisis.
We have also revised the criteria for our next round of funding from the UK Small Grants programme to help small, local organisations adapt their services in light of Covid-19 so that they can continue or resume supporting families safely.
The exception to this has been funding of the Life Lines project.
We provided £500,000 to launch Life Lines, an initiative designed to connect families of seriously ill patients isolated on intensive care units with their loved ones. The project aimed to alleviate human suffering during the pandemic by providing tablets and establishing a system for virtual e-visiting which allows the families of seriously ill patients to see and speak to their loved ones via a tablet using a secure online platform. It also provides families with the opportunity to communicate directly with the clinical team, ask questions and better understand the care the patient is receiving. So far over 1,000 tablets have been delivered to intensive care units across the UK and thousands of calls have been made to families. We made this grant in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which also provided £500,000.
Click here to read about the other emergency grants that we have made in the UK and Africa.
