Join the Social Care Day of Remembrance on 17 March
We’re proud to support the national Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection on the 17th of March 2022.
It is an opportunity to reflect on the important work of the adult social care sector and pay tribute to the people that sadly lost their lives during the Covid pandemic. The national day has been organised by Skills for Care and the Care Workers’ Charity in collaboration with 20 partners across the social care sector. It is supported by Care England, the Homecare Association and the Department of Health and Social Care.
Organisers estimate that between 9 March 2020 and 21 May 2021 some 922 social care workers were sadly lost to Covid-19, including Agincare team members. 17 March 2022 marks two years from the onset of the pandemic and the UK being placed into lockdown. The day is also an opportunity to recognise and remember adult social care workers who also lost their lives for other reasons; and of those that we cared for and supported during this challenging time.
Agincare Chief Executive Raina Summerson said:
Our thoughts remain with everyone impacted by the Covid pandemic, which did not pass without incredible bravery, dedication and sacrifice by those working in social care. Although those lives affected across social care and their families are never far from our thoughts, the day is a time for us to come together to reflect and remember all those we have lost over the past two years.
Our Agincare teams will remember, reflect and pay their respects in their own way, based on what feels right to them and their shared experience. That might mean spending some quiet time together, a coffee morning, social event, observing a minute silence or planting a tree in honour of those lost or affected by the pandemic.
Get involved: Memorial wall and thank you wall tribute messages
Everyone is invited to visit a special memorial wall online to leave a tribute to a lost loved ones. A thank-you wall is also online for people to recognise the efforts of a care worker that has provided vital support to you or someone you know, or a well done to a colleague who worked hard to help keep the people they support safe during the pandemic.
Get involved: Support fundraising for a memorial
Organisers have launched a fundraising appeal for a permanent physical memorial tribute to the adult social care workforce. Smaller donations will help manage an online memorial website and support local tributes. You can donate via a Just Giving page or download a fundraising pack for more details about the appeal and how you can help.
Get involved: Join the national remembrance event
A national online remembrance event is taking place on 17 March from 10.30am with Minister of Health and Social Care Gillian Keegan leading the tributes, personal reflections and thank you messages. Representatives, working at all levels from across the sector have been invited to share their own experiences of the pandemic, and personal reflections. The event will conclude with a poem dedicated to the social care workforce and a minute’s silence at 12.20pm. The event is being held online, is free to register and will be streamed live from 10.30am – 12.30pm.
Get involved: #RememberSocialCare
Like, share, post and follow the conversation on social media with the hashtag #RememberSocialCare
Reflecting on past 2 years
Throughout the pandemic our incredible workers have managed the quick-changing challenges of lockdown, infection control regimes and vaccine roll-out whilst caring and supporting everyone that draws on our services. In recognition of their efforts, Covid Hero medals were awarded to every member of the Agincare team – some 3,500 people – who worked from the start of lockdown in 2020 through to the end of March 2021. Our team members also received a certificate and letter of appreciation from our Chairman Derek Luckhurst and Chief Executive Raina Summerson in recognition of their efforts during the pandemic, ensuring people continued to receive the care and support they needed.
I have never felt so proud of the team that we have here at Agincare. We have had people going out, risking their lives and keeping morale up, to provide essential care across society. The Agincare Covid Hero Medal is a fitting way to say thank you to our teams, and a lasting tribute to their incredible efforts.
Incredible acts by our team members going truly above and beyond during the pandemic are also sure to feature strongly in our inaugural Agincare Heroes Awards this year. The awards will be taken from nominations by people that draw on our services, families, colleagues, health and social care professionals and the public.
