COVID-19 Community Response

Do you need help and support?

Our priority has always been people first; this is no different during this crisis.

If you are a resident in Bracknell Forest who:

Was being shielded or living with someone who was shielding
Self-isolating due to COVID-19 symptoms
Social distancing but have other health conditions, disabilities or caring responsibilities that make it difficult for you to leave your home

and have no support available from friends or family, then we can help!

This page does not include everything the volunteer network does. If you have a need that is not listed below please contact us to discuss.

You do not need to register, when you need the community response network please call 01344 266911 or email community@theark.org.uk

Open between 8am and 8pm, 7 days a week.

The community response is a partnership between The Ark Trust and Bracknell Forest Council.

What the network does

Bins and Recycling

Volunteers cannot go into your home but they can bring your bins to the edge of your property and return them later that day.

Volunteers can also help recycle your glass to the central collection points.

Click and Collect Orders

Clothing and Bedding

Deliveries from Supermarkets

Dog Walking

This is our policy that provides guidance and procedures for both dog owners and community responders who volunteer to walk dogs for members of the community who are unable to do so themselves due to the virus and/or their personal health circumstances.

Potential risks identified with community response dog walking activity:

Risk of injury to volunteer walker or dog
Risk of injury to a member of the public or another dog
Risk of damage to property
Potential cost to dog owner (through the dog injuring a person, dog or damaging property)
Potential liability of the volunteer walker if they do not have adequate control of the dog
Transmission of the virus; although there is no evidence of dogs being able to catch and transmit the virus to humans, their fur/coat and dog leads are surfaces where the virus could be found and transmitted from person to person.
Transmission of the virus from owner to walker at handover

In normal circumstances dogs would get to know potential walkers - so even calm and easy-going dogs may not react well when picked up by a stranger.

To minimise these risks, we ask the following guidelines are observed:

Owners ‘book’ all walks through the Community Hub are aware of all owners and volunteers coming into contact with each other and, in the event of any incident, are aware of the parties involved
Priority will be given to those owners who are ‘shielded’ or isolated and have no one else to walk the dog; particularly those with no garden
Only one dog to be walked at a time
The dog owner must provide the Community Hub with evidence of insurance
The dog owner agrees to disclose any issues regarding the dog (dislike of bicycles for example) at the time of booking the walk and to confirm the dog does not have a history of aggression. They will also share details of the dogs breed and size and maybe even a photograph
The volunteer will be provided with a community response volunteer T-shirt and identification (which can only be used for official community response tasks)
The volunteer at no time enters into the home of the dog owner
Handover occurs in the safest way possible. If any aspect of handover makes the volunteer uncomfortable or unsafe the walk is aborted
The volunteer wears gloves (these can be provided) at all times during the walk and observes the government guidelines to keep safe (social distancing, not touching face etc.)
The volunteer keeps the dog on lead at all times
If there are any issues with the dog’s behaviour the walk is terminated early
The owner is to supply poop bags and, if there is no suitable dog poop bin on the walk, agrees to take the full poop bags back and dispose of
The volunteer dog walker agrees to pick up any dog mess on the walk and, if there is a suitable dog poop bin that is not full, on the walk route dispose of or return to dog owner
The volunteer does not unnecessarily pet/touch the dog
The volunteer does not allow anyone else to touch or pet the dog at all
The return of the dog and the handover to the owner occurs in the safest way possible.
The volunteer lets the dog owner know of any issues
The volunteer leaves full poop bags with owner (if applicable)
It is recommended that the dog owner bathes or wipes down the dog on its return to minimise risk of transmission from the dog’s fur/cost
The volunteer removes and disposes of gloves safely as soon as task is over and washes hands as soon as possible
The volunteer provides feedback to the Community Hub (through the local coordinators or if arranged direct to the office); it is important that any concerns are shared for everyone’s safety

The Ark Trust CIO does not accept any liability for injury or damages arising from community response volunteer dog walking activity.

Donations

Eye wear

Financial Hardship

Foodbank

Food Shopping

GP items/requests

Hearing Aids

Information, Advice and Guidance

Letters and Parcels

Prescriptions

Prescription Deliveries for Pharmacies

Side by Side (Supporting you to go out)

Small Local Business

Utility Keys

Reimbursement Policy

What personal information do we collect and how do we use it?

The Ark Trust CIO Data Protection Statement

At The Ark we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Who are we?

The Ark Trust in partnership with Bracknell Forest Council are running the community response service in Bracknell Forest.

The community response service will help anyone in need who has no local support network of their own (family and friends) including those in the household who are isolating or shielding from the virus. Help is also available for people distancing and is decided on a case by case basis.

This privacy statement sets out the data processing practices carried out by The Ark Trust CIO, Charity Number 1098204, Information Commissioner’s Office Registration Reference Z7741334.

Volunteer area coordinators have been identified in your local area. The Ark passes most requests for assistance to them and they allocate it to a volunteer responder. There are some exceptions to this decided on a case by case basis. For example: our staff and volunteers carry out some tasks and some requests result into referrals to other organisations.

What personal information do we collect and how do we use it?

Depending on your needs when you contact us we collect, process, share and store the following information about you. In some cases there are specific things that help a volunteer to complete a task, you will tell us this at the time of the request and we will tell you if we are sharing that information, the following is for general guidance.

Information and advice only

We do not keep any personal information relating to IAG only.

Medication collection and delivery

We record and store:

If you are shielding, isolating or social distancing
Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your Email address
Your date of birth
The number of items being collected
Where the collection is
When it is available for collection
If there are any controlled drugs

We share with the area coordinators:

Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your date of birth
The number of items being collected
Where the collection is
When it is available for collection
When there are controlled drugs

We share with the volunteer responder:

Your name
Your address
Your date of birth
The number of items being collected
Where the collection is
When it is available for collection
When there are controlled drugs

Food Shopping

We record and store:

If you are shielding, isolating or social distancing
Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your Email address
Your shopping list

We share with the area coordinators:

Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your shopping list

Area coordinators share with the volunteer responder:

Your name
Your address
Your shopping list

Dog walking

We record and store:

If you are shielding, isolating or social distancing

Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your Email address
The breed of your dog
A photo of your dog
Your insurance policy for your dog
Specific behaviours of your dog

We share with the area coordinators:

Your name
Your address
Your phone number
The breed of your dog
Specific behaviours of your dog

Area coordinators share with the volunteer responder:

Your name
Your address
The breed of your dog
Specific behaviours of your dog

This is a general guide. There are other tasks that we will carry out for you and we will tell you what will happen to your personal information when you contact us.

Where do we store your personal information?

During this crisis we store information on paper and electronically. Where it is electronically stored it is password protected. Paper records are stored securely.

Referrals

We will only make a referral to another organisation with your permission, the information we share with them will be provided by you at the time of you agreeing for the referral. Referrals include but are not limited to CAB, Involve, Foodbank, Bracknell Forest Council.

Safeguarding

During the course of our work with you, we may be alerted to a safeguarding concern. If this is the case we may have to pass your information onto the local authority safeguarding team, police or other statutory party without your permission. Where it is safe to do so we will make this clear to you that we are doing this.

Your rights?

You have the right to your personal information being removed at any time. You also have the right to be forgotten. Forgotten means that we will delete all your personal information from all of our records. Please let us know at any time if you wish to be removed. There may be a time where we cannot remove you entirely, such as safeguarding. You have the right to request what information we have about you. If you would like to know, please ask us. You also have a right to update or correct this information where it is out of date or incorrect.

Please contact chris@theark.org.uk for any requests of this nature. Please note at this time we may not respond to these requests as quickly as we would like to.