Warm-hearted voluntary groups in Chadderton provide sanitary products for the homeless
Date published: 29 January 2021
Pictured (left to right) are Charlene Burns (director, Reel CIC), Dr Anita Sharma, Margaret Heywood (South Chadderton PPG) and Linda Nuttall (Christ Church, Chadderton)
A heartfelt plea at a church door from a young mum has prompted a pioneering partnership to relieve period poverty and seen unprecedented acts of kindness from the people of Oldham.
Around 10% of girls told a UK survey that they were unable to afford sanitary products, and with lockdown poverty biting, that situation is only getting worse.
And hearing that more and more women are facing a choice between feeding their children or risking their health by resorting to unhygienic and potentially dangerous alternatives during their monthly cycle, Christ Church Chadderton has teamed up with Reel CIC and the Community Church Chadderton to distribute towels, tampons and tampax to visitors to their food pantries and other initiatives to help those in need.
The partnership is the brainchild of local GP and women’s health expert Dr Anita Sharma, with the Patient Participation Group at the South Chadderton Medical Centre successfully collecting and coordinating the effort.
Dr Sharma said: “Our practice has been collecting sanitary products for around two years thanks to funding from charity The Rochdale Inner Wheel and leaving them in the surgery for individual patients to collect.
"But of course, patients have not been visiting the surgery as frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I am aware that women are using toilet rolls and even rags during their period and this could lead to urinary tract infections which can reoccur and eventually result in kidney abscesses, kidney failure and even organ failure due to sepsis.
"If we can prevent even one such occurrence, this partnership will have been worth it.”
Lockdown has seen an increase generally in health problems directly resulting from poverty and some incredibly difficult decisions for parents in how to spend their limited income.
Charlene Burns, director at charity Reel CIC, who have organised everything from clothing packs for those in need to visiting the isolated vulnerable on their doorstep and singing to them, said: “It’s tragic when you meet women who can’t afford nappies for her children and is faced with whether or not they buy food or sanitary products.
"This is real and this is happening, now.”
Linda Nuttall from Christ Church, who have been providing meals for rough sleepers and refugees from their doorstep on Block Lane, added: “If people ask us for something essential, we try and get it for them, and I have to say that every one of them has said thank you to us.
"Perhaps it is because we are of a certain age that we forget about sanitary products – but they are so important.”
South Chadderton’s Patient Participation Group consists of volunteers who bring forward health concerns and enable the practice to make sound decisions on how to address them.
Every surgery in the UK now has to work with a PPG by law, though South Chadderton need not be pressed into action – and are one of the most active groups in the country.
They recently helped make theirs a Homeless-Friendly practice with sound services for rough sleepers and have been pioneers in raising awareness of issues such as antibiotic-resistant infections.
They have helped publicise the sanitary products collection to their community and collected five large shopping bags of new items.
“One of the tangible benefits of this initiative is that it raises the profile of period poverty, a problem which if people know about it at all, tend to equate with developing countries in Africa,” added Dr Sharma.
“The fact is though, that crippling poverty is forcing women to play dice with their health in order to feed their children here in the UK.
"Thankfully, Oldham is blessed with some fine voluntary sector organisations and a population who support charity even when they are experiencing economic difficulties themselves.
"I hope that initial knock-on Christ Church’s door is a wake-up call to us all to beat period poverty and potentially save lives.”
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