A group led by a Christian GP is delivering food to care home staff to recognise their solidarity in caring for Covid-19 patients.
Afro GP Herts, a local educational group for doctors of African descent, started taking bread, spaghetti, fruit and other essential foods to 14 carehomes in their community because they saw that their work was not being as recognised.
When the idea came about, care home deaths were not being included in the daily figures and social care staff had not yet been given the same access as NHS workers in supermakets.
Dr Charles Esene told Premier: "We work closely with the care homes and we see the workers who are caring for these people and we know that they're dong a fantastic job.
"They are working selflessly, by the end of the day when they finish their shifts, whilst I would walk into Costco with my NHS card, they would still have to queue and I thought that's not completely right."
He said the group wanted to tell those in care homes: "We recognise you as fellow front line workers as well, this is the least we can do."
Dr Esene added that their gift was hugely appreciated, saying Afro GPS Herts had recieved many thank you cards and in "one of the homes almost everyone came out to say thank you."
Dr Nonyelum Agomo is a GP in London and joined the group recently, she told Premier: "I usually feel very tired by the time it's Saturday at the end of the week and I just want to be in my bed all day...but when on Saturday morning we went to give it out I just felt so much energy from the act of giving."
She said that for her it was an act of following Jesus: "We, as a church, have got to reach out, we've got to love people."
Dr Agomo explained how others could pray for them: "Pray for us, that God would give us peace, we also need divine protection, especially because there's so many news broadcasts about the doctors who are dying on the front line being from our ethnicity, our group, and we've still got to see our patients so obviously [there is] this extra layer of 'will I be the next one?'"
Dr Agomo has lost her uncle to Covid-19 and said: "It's personal and it's putting myself and my family at risk every time I see a patient."
Dr Esene agreed: "We need that prayer to get us going every morning, knowing fully well that we've got the strong hand of God guiding us...prayer is never too much, whatever prayers you have - just add it to all that!"
