Community Health Champions

I was inspired to become a Community Health Champion at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic because I wanted to learn about issue and saw the significant impact the not knowing about the virus was having on our Community in Newham, East London.

With so much uncertainty and misinformation circulating, I felt a strong sense of responsibility to help ensure that accurate information reached those who needed it most. I wanted to support my neighbours in my Community in understanding the evolving situation and making informed decisions to protect their health.

I felt that it was essential that we received accurate and timely information. The main way to achieve this was by working closely with our Public Health team. They had a mammoth task in dealing with the unprecedented situation. There was no rule book to follow.

Fortunately, we have a brilliant team who quickly learned that it would need a collaborative approach. We also established that the Community would need to be able to challenge the establishment and information provided. That way we, as Champions could pass details on. We felt comfortable with, the source and knowing that we were being honest even if the details were unpopular or difficult.

We were granted the opportunity to communicate directly with medical experts who took the time to listen to our concerns and comments which were varied. The top down approach was questioned. Mutual respect was established. This proved to be an essential part of the success of our communication. It led to other areas in the country adopting our model. This is something that needs to be recognised in the history books of Pandemics. I am so proud that it was possible and that was made in Newham. Communities throughout the UK learned about the Newham module. They could pick the key elements that they needed and form their own Champion format. How fantastic is that?

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The Community Health Champions network builds on COVID-19 Health Champions network. It empowers Newham residents to remain up to date on information about things to do with health and wellbeing that matter to them. We currently provide information on cost of living (Cost of Living Champions), general health information (Community Health Champions). 

There are various community lead champion programmes like Energy Champions (run by Renewal Programme) and soon to be launch Healthy Cooking Champions - Train the Trainer (run by Nutrition Kitchen).

To learn more about Community Health Champion programmes in Newham and how to sign up, check the boxes below.

This is one of the examples how our Community Health Champions can influence a change. The flyer has been initiated and co-created with one of our Community Health Champions, Katie. Katie identified a gap in our resources on ways to help residents save on their water bills, and together we developed a helpful infographic on Water-Saving Tips for Your Day-to-Day Routine.

In addition to practical tips, the flyer highlights schemes offered by Thames Water that may provide financial relief for eligible households.