Two local women who have been volunteering to support a ground-breaking trial to reduce transmission and severity of Covid-19 in care homes have been recognised for their dedication.
Maureen Godfrey and Val Leyland are members of the PROTECT-CH trial Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group and have won the University of Nottingham Community Volunteer of the Year (Group) award.
The award is part of university's annual volunteer awards celebrating the outstanding contributions alumni, staff and community volunteers make to the university and the wider world.
For the PROTECT-CH trial, researchers are working with care homes across the UK to test drugs that already show promise for treating Covid-19, but will use them to prevent Covid-19 instead. The team are focusing on care home residents because they are at high risk from Covid-19 and the aim is to reduce the number and severity of Covid-19 cases in those homes.
Maureen and Val, who are retired, are helping to shape the information about the trial so it is accessible and understandable to staff, residents and their families. They attend regular meetings where they review materials, provide advice, and suggest new ideas for care home resident engagement. As a result, the PROTECT-CH group has been able to co-create consent forms, information sheets, a poster, and a video for potential PROTECT-CH participants which use informative, friendly, and clear language.
Professor Adam Gordon, President-Elect of the British Geriatrics Society and co-chief investigator at the University of Nottingham said: "The involvement of volunteers like Maureen and Val is invaluable as they provide the non-scientific input from a patient perspective to ensure we are creating accessible materials with the right information. This allows residents to make an informed decision about taking part in the trial. Maureen and Val are fantastic volunteers who continue to give their time, expertise, enthusiasm, and care to the PROTECT-CH PPI Group every week, even though the input they have already given is above and beyond what is expected – congratulations to them both on this well-deserved award!"
Professor Philip Bath, Chief Investigator at the University of Nottingham added: "Many congratulations to both Maureen and Val - the award is thoroughly deserved and they have worked tirelessly to drive the development of care home resident-facing materials for the PROTECT-CH trial."
Val, who lives in Bramcote said: "When the pandemic struck, some of my previous volunteering roles were put on hold so I was delighted to become involved with the PROTECT study. I have discovered a wonderful group of colleagues who all work together so well and although we haven't met in person (yet), all feel like good friends.
In this ground-breaking study we have worked hard together to try to ensure that the information provided to care home residents and their relatives is clear and straightforward to understand. We've banished jargon and unnecessary verbiage and hope that everyone will feel able to relate to the goal - which is to protect life. Hearing about the Award was a complete surprise and a great honour. It will be received on behalf of the whole team and all those other volunteers who work tirelessly in so many different areas both in the University and in the Nottingham community."
Maureen is a University of Nottingham Alumni and lives in Gedling, she said: "I began volunteering over fifteen years ago after being a carer for my mother who had Alzheimer's disease . I felt I could help set up and be part of a group of volunteers who with similar lived experiences could help support research into dementia. Over these years patient ,public and carers involvement, for me has been the most rewarding work. It has enabled me to both contribute to hundreds of studies but as importantly gain personal growth and recognition and make long lasting invaluable friendships as I'm on the dementia carers journey for the third time.
As an alumni of Nottingham university I feel doubly honoured to be awarded both for helping research but also giving back to student life after the life changing experience Nottingham gave to me when a mature student."
The UK has more than 21,000 care homes looking after 420,000 residents, many of whom have dementia or physical care needs. Up to half of all Covid19 deaths in the UK have occurred in care homes. If PROTECT can identify an effective drug to reduce the severity of Covid-19, and the likelihood of transmission, then this, alongside other measures, could help enable a return to a more normal life for care home residents and their families, including more liberal visiting policies.
