Supporting Military Veterans

A new Everton in the Community online health and wellbeing project is supporting at-risk and vulnerable military veterans during the coronavirus pandemic.

As the nation pays tribute on Remembrance Day to the heroic servicemen and women who gave their lives for their country, veterans are reminded of the support on offer from Everton's official charity.

With the majority of the charity’s face-to-face delivery suspended as a consequence of the pandemic, ‘Vets Connected’ aims to improve the social, physical and mental wellbeing of military veterans and family members at a time where loneliness, isolation and mental health issues are magnified.

Recent Public Health England research states that 84 per cent of people are anxious about the effect of coronavirus on their life, whilst 53 per cent reported that the pandemic is affecting their wellbeing.

Through a variety of fun and flexible online engagement sessions, the project delivers a range of tailored health, wellbeing and social enrichment activities to support at-risk and vulnerable veterans during the coronavirus pandemic.
The project, funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund, also aims to keep veterans connected and socially engaged with regular telephone and video calls to provide personalised welfare support to reduce social isolation and improve morale during this unprecedented time.

Everton in the Community predominantly operates within the L4 area of Merseyside, where its indices of deprivation for income, employment, health and disability is ranked highest in the country.

With high levels of deprivation strongly correlating to poor health and wellbeing outcomes - and the pandemic heightening vulnerabilities to loneliness, isolation and mental health issues - EitC Health and Wellbeing Manager Johnnie Garside explains the need for further support in the community.

He said: “With the coronavirus pandemic affecting so much of what Everton in the Community does, we have had to change our activity provision to adapt to the needs of our participants.

“We recognise the impact the pandemic is having on people’s overall wellbeing and importantly how the consequences of poor mental health are likely to be present for longer and peak later than the actual coronavirus pandemic. We are therefore putting provision in place to support as many veterans as we can."