Cruse Bereavement Care Cornwall caring for hundreds

Cruse Bereavement Care in Cornwall is part of a national charitable organisation that offers support to bereaved people.  

Covid-19 is now the third most common bereavement experienced by Cruse Bereavement's callers, making it imperative that Cruse Bereavement Care were able to operate efficiently and effectively to be here to respond to the needs of the Cornish people in such a very difficult time. They have managed to train 11 additional bereavement volunteers which have brought their total to 27. 

Cruse Bereavement Care in Cornwall received £4,658 from the Emergency FundA sum of money made available for grant making, often with specific criteria/conditions. back in April 2020 enabling them to provide ongoing telephone/zoom support to 100 bereaved people across Cornwall.  

They quoted “We are incredibly grateful to the Cornwall Community Foundation for not only supporting us with a grant but for exceeding the grant amount requested to fund our entire projectA piece of work that delivers an output. – we are incredibly grateful. The staff at Cornwall Community Foundation were incredibly helpful, great to speak with and clearly supportive of our work supporting bereaved people at this, particularly difficult time. Your support has enabled our staff and volunteers to continue providing high-quality support to bereaved people in Cornwall, despite the challenges caused by the pandemic. We hope that this report gives you a sense of the impact your support has achieved.” 

There will be other deaths that have occurred during this period that are unrelated to Coronavirus where loved ones will have died without the normal care and support that family members can offer. Due to the lockdown, families and friends have not been able to attend the funeral of the loved family member. People have had to grieve entirely on their own with no one to be able to offer any physical support and comfort. For many, this will be an added trauma on top of the existing distress of death. 

They go on to say “This grant enabled us to provide ongoing support to 100 bereaved people in Cornwall during the pandemic. The pandemic has caused additional trauma and unimaginable pain to so many bereaved people. We have supported those whose loved one has died from the virus, whilst supporting others who are bereaved by other causes, all of whom have been unable to grieve in the way they would usually. People have been isolated from their usual support networks; people have been unable to attend funerals and say goodbye to their loved ones. Many have felt they have had to put their grief on hold.”