A SCHOOL nurse has established two community support groups as well as continuing her nurse duties during the coronavirus lockdown.

Penny Heseltine has recruited 50 volunteers who have made more than 600 shopping or support calls so far, setting up the Marske and New Marske coronavirus support group.

She said: “We have had people crying with relief and have even had people getting in touch to help people from as far away as Newark, down near Lincoln. We found that especially early on, people could be a bit confused and we found a very real need. One older man was going to the shops with an oxygen cylinder in his back pack. He lived in an area with a lot of older people who couldn’t go out and so he did it himself, despite being far from well. We soon sorted that out. We did what we could to spread the word and even took a call from a desperate person in Redcar who had an elderly relative in Newark they were worried about. Thankfully, we were able to locate a more local support group.

“Our group evolved quite quickly and we were well organised so we found we were being called to Redcar a lot so we set up a sister group there which, I’m glad to say, has also really taken off. We’ve found a lot of the needs of the children and young people are the same as before. It can be emotional problems, sleep problems, relationship issues and we are very much involved in safeguarding children who may be vulnerable.

“I have found most of them are actually coping with lockdown quite well - it’s the problems that were there before that we are continuing to support with but we are also very mindful that lockdown is increasing vulnerability for some people, we are keeping in contact with families and offering any support we can, these are difficult times for people and the information, advice and support that the School Nurse can provide is even more important during this time."