COVID-19 National Day of Reflection
Today, Tuesday 23 March 2021, marks the first anniversary of the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown, a day that very few of us will forget and that will no doubt go down in history. The last 12 months have been incredibly hard in many different ways for all of us both personally and professionally. Many of us have been affected through ill health - either ourselves or our family or friends - or have struggled financially, or had feelings of isolation, loneliness, anxiety and depression. We have all struggled with the challenges associated with the different ways of living and working, and of balancing the provision of care to dependants or home schooling with work. Tragically too, many of us have experienced the loss of a loved one and have had to deal with the grief associated with this, especially when the restrictions have even changed normal bereavement practices.
To remember all those who have sadly lost their lives to COVID-19, there will be a minute’s silence at 12 noon and a national doorstep vigil with people encouraged to light up their doorsteps tonight.
As an organisation, I would invite you to support this act of remembrance by observing the 1 minute’s silence to remember those lost. Our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones and who have not been able to commemorate them in the way they would have wanted, due to the restrictions.
Support and Assistance
If you are struggling with grief or feel you are not coping with the loss of a loved one, COVID-19 related or not, there is help available for you if you feel you need this. Please contact your line manager to discuss this further or contact an HR Adviser who can support you. If you are not comfortable with making contact with someone from work, you can access assistance through the national charity, Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland by visiting http://www.crusescotland.org.uk/support.html or by phoning their helpline on 0808 8026161.
Support and assistance is also available to employees who may be experiencing poor mental health for any reason. This can be accessed through your line manager, our HR Team or via the wellbeing resources published on our website here.
Thank You
On behalf of Tayside Contracts’ Joint Committee and the Corporate Management Team, we both want to once again express our deepest thanks to each and every one of you who have all made different sacrifices over the last 12 months in order to stay safe both at work and in your personal lives, to keep our essential public services operating, and to help bring this pandemic to an end. We are all very grateful and immensely proud of the hard work and excellent services that you continue to deliver every day to enhance our communities. This hard work and dedication is frequently recognised and commended, most recently at the Tayside Contracts Joint Committee meeting on Monday 15 March 2021 - and it is so important to us that we convey our heartfelt gratitude to you.
Summary
It is difficult to believe that a whole year has passed since COVID-19 entered our lives and impacted on us all in such a significant way. We are, however, making great progress with the national vaccination programme and we must all take encouragement and positivity from this and hope that we will soon be able to return to something closer to normal life.
Should you have any questions about any of the topics covered in this briefing please speak to your line manager.
If you have not already done so and wish to provide your email address to us in order to benefit from electronic access to communications such as these, please forward your email address to communications@tayside-contracts.co.uk We will not forward your email address onto any third parties or use it for any other purpose other than to communicate with you.
Keith McNamara, Managing Director
Councillor Angus Forbes, Convenor
Tayside Contracts Joint Committee
23 March 2021
