Here is the latest COVID-19 update from Cardiff Council, covering: a tribute to the NHS appears on City Hall lawns; schools praised for PPE contributions; Housing Online to save tenants time; and Grassroots delivers food parcels.

Cardiff's parks pay tribute to the NHS on City Hall lawns

The initials 'NHS' have appeared in seven metre tall letters on the lawns outside City Hall as part of a tribute by Cardiff Council's parks team to the work being done by the National Health Service.

Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury, said: "Staff working in the NHS are doing a fantastic job and we wanted to use our parks to show our thanks and appreciation for everything they're doing to look after us all, during this difficult situation."

"There may only be three letters in this tribute but people should be in no doubt that the list of people who deserve our thanks is much, much longer - our home carers, the people still out there collecting bins, our bereavement services team and many, many more in services across the council, continue to rise superbly to the challenges posed by Covid-19."

Cardiff's secondary schools praised for the contributions of PPE

Cardiff's secondary schools have been supporting frontline health workers across the city by providing thousands of items of PPE, during COVID-19.

It is estimated that over 10,000 face shields and visors have already been manufactured using school equipment and materials by many schools including Cardiff High School, Cathays High School, Bishop of Llandaff High School, Ysgol Gymraeg Glantaf and St David's College.

Whitchurch High School and Llanishen High School have provided additional acetate for manufacturing and Willows High School is taking delivery of equipment this week so that they can also start producing valuable items of PPE.

Several schools including Ysgol Gymraeg Plasmawr, Bishop of Llandaff, Llanishen High School, Corpus Christi and Cathays have also donated their supply of science goggles, gloves, aprons and masks amounting to thousands of items, all being used by hospitals, GP Surgeries, district nurses, care homes, pharmacies and care in the community workers on the frontline.

In addition, staff from the Design Technology and Textiles department at Ysgol Gymraeg Glantaf have made 175 bags to hold scrubs and have now moved on to making scrubs in accordance with NHS guidelines, with the target of 70 tunics a week.

Cardiff Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry said: "I am absolutely overwhelmed to hear of the fantastic work that is going on in our schools to help support front line health workers during the pandemic.

"The generosity from staff, pupils and their wider school communities is having an outstanding contribution. Many schools will have to repurchase items when school's open again so I would like to commend them for their kindness and thank all those who have volunteered their time."

Cardiff High School and Cathays High School are now producing visors suitable for use when working with children. Pupils submitted their own design ideas and over 100 of the new visors were delivered to Ty Hafren Children's Hospice this week.

Staff are also transforming unwanted duvets into scrubs bags and the school have set up an online ordering system to manage the demand.

Housing Online to save tenants time

It's now quicker and easier for Council tenants across the city to manage their rent accounts.

Housing Online has been developed on the Council website to allow tenants to be able to manage their rent accounts online.

Tenants can already make rent payments online but Housing Online give tenants more control as they are now able to check their balance, recent transactions and statements, view their payment schedule and update personal information such as contact details, without having to contact the rent teams on the phone or via hubs.

At a time when more of us need to stay at home during the current health emergency, there's never been a better time to sign up for an online account. Signing up is quick and easy - a tenant will need their person reference number and an active email address.

Tenants that do not know their person reference number, can email  HousingOnlineHelp@cardiff.gov.uk providing their full name and address, and the team will send their person reference number to them by post.

Find out more here:

https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Housing/housing-online/Pages/default.aspx

Grassroots deliver food parcels

Youth Workers from Grassroots, which is part of Cardiff Youth Service have provided over 40 emergency food parcels to young people and their families in Cardiff.

Parcels of food, toiletries and sanitary products were donated by Sainsbury's, Queen Street & Morrisons in Llanishen and given to vulnerable young people struggling to get food and essential provisions.

Many of the parcels were delivered by Youth Support Workers from Grassroots, EOTAS (Education otherwise than at school) staff and Pre & Post 16 Youth Mentors. 

Grassroots staff are all working remotely online and have been keeping in touch regularly with young people using the project.  Regular calls, texts and Facebook messages are made three times a week to those most vulnerable. Youths are enjoying this contact during the prolonged period of lockdown and enforced social isolation. 

Youth Workers have used these methods to signpost young people towards practical activities, useful educational resources, details of foodbanks, Hubs & emergency food providers, discussing health & pregnancy issues and generally ensuring that communication remains as natural as possible.

The hard work and dedication of these Youth Workers is making a huge difference to the lives of young people across the city.