Hello everyone!
Thank you again to our supporters who recently signed the petition and those who have been around for a while. It’s amazing to see this issue is really getting some attention and support.
I (Cass) am attending the Scottish Parliament tomorrow to give evidence at a committee about the lived experience of Long Covid. I am going with some excellent people from Long Covid Scotland and we aim to raise a lot of the issues that long Covid patients, quite a lot of who are key workers, are facing in Scotland.
I also wanted to let you all know that we are having a meeting next week. If you are a key workers affected by Long Covid, please drop us an email. As we don’t have funds for a Zoom subscription, it will be a short meeting to discuss next campaigning plans. We are putting together an update for elected representatives and journalists, plus we have now finished the first draft of letters that supporters can send to their local and national newspapers, as well as their elected representatives.
There may be some delays between updates for a while; things for me have reached the point where I am having to contact charities and charitable funds, as well as putting myself on the housing register of my local council. I am resigned to the fact I have to sell up this year. There isn’t any way around it. I don’t qualify for Industrial Illness Benefit or a Personal Injury Claim. It means I’m having to make a plan to sell and get rid of a lot in my place, as well as consider rehoming my two cats. I am single, I’m too vulnerable to have someone rent my spare room to pay the mortgage.
It should not be coming to this for any key worker. If you caught Covid as a result of your job, you should not have to worry about losing your home, your income, paying the bills. But this is the situation in which we find ourselves.
I dithered about telling you my reality, but I think it is important to tell our stories, no matter how good or bad. I expect Rachel and Sarah will post about their situation on the petition soon.
I hope you are all doing well. Please continue to share and support our petition. Obviously, that would just be the start of making sure that anyone who needs support can get it!
Thank you.