Coronavirus: Social media helpers join forces in north Wicklow

Communities across north Co Wicklow are using social media to connect and support those in self-isolation or just in need of the help of a good neighbour during the coronavirus outbreak.

Aileen Lennon from Delgany said she initially saw a post “somewhere on Facebook” about HSE advice which featured contact numbers of people available to help with grocery deliveries or running errands and thought “I can copy that locally”. She is one of more than 10,000 members of the Greystones Open Forum group on Facebook.

While Ms Lennon was planning to print a leaflet with her contact details and deliver it to homes on her road, she saw Michelle Power from Newtownmountkennedy offering to help others on the forum.

Ms Power said she had a car and did not want to see anyone who was vulnerable and in self-isolation going without essentials.

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Then there was another post was from Éire Óg GAA Club in Gresytones, members of which had put up mobile numbers asking anyone who needed help to call them.

‘Something they could do’

Damien English said some of the club’s members felt there was “something they could do” and word then spread around social media.

Soon the number of people offering to help was rising fast and Ms Power and others decided to move the offers of help to a dedicated Facebook page.

It started out as “Gresytones Area Covid-19 Self-Isolation Help” but rapidly it evolved into being the “Greystones, Delgany, Kilcoole, Newcastle, Newtownmountkennedy Covid-19 Self-Isolation Help” as more and more groups became involved.

The name may be unwieldy but it has not stopped interest growing and in the space of a few days the group had more than 600 members.

Many of the offers of help were practical, while some aimed to use social media and technology to amuse, entertain and occupy those in isolation.

One post offered a link to 12 famous museums offering virtual tours that can be taken from a person’s couch, another offered help in applying for social welfare online and several shared activities for children stuck up at home during schools closures.

Keith Scanlon, who has been involved in coordinating a leaflet drop to ensure every house in north Wicklow gets information on people will to help, said one of the ideas was for children to keep diaries, which he said would be a valuable social account of the events in years to come.

Mr Scanlon said organising the initiative on Facebook had proven more effective than on Twitter as the posts could be longer and “people on Twitter can be anxious to be too smart”.

He said he had reservations about data usage by social media companies but that helping people in isolation was a good example of how social media could be a positive force.