Spinal Injuries Scotland Adapt To Deliver Vital Services During COVID-19

• Published date: 27 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Operational Impacts and Strategy
• Law Firm: Digby Brown
• Author: Digby Brown Solicitors

Read a blog from Laura Torrance, Peer Support Coordinator at Spinal Injuries Scotland (SIS). Laura discusses the impact of the COVID pandemic and how they have responded in order to deliver support during unprecedented times.

One of our main services at Spinal Injuries Scotland (SIS) is Peer Support, it is at the heart of what we do. This involves staff and volunteers attending the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow in person and sharing stories of their own life experiences of living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). We offer emotional support, information, tips and practical advice to patients and their families.

We also attend weekly rehabilitation session at the unit, outreach clinics across the whole of Scotland as well as hosting coffee meets and greets for our members too.

But then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and we could no longer offer these services face-to-face. We had to find new ways to support people living with a spinal cord injury.

So we turned technology for the answers and embraced platforms such as Zoom, Teams and social media to allow us to connect with everyone we support.

We created a dedicated community page on Facebook to provide a safe and private place for all our members to chat and share experiences of how they were coping with the restrictions in place. It's been truly amazing to witness the support within the group.

Coffee meets were able to continue - albeit virtually through Zoom - and has allowed members from all over Scotland to connect and build friendships that would have otherwise been very unlikely. It also gave those that were unable to attend in person previously a chance to join in too. This is a service that we expect will stay in place even after restrictions are fully...