Pat Carlin of Foyle Search and Rescue
And the Derry charity says it has lost out in about £50,000 in funding over the past two months because of the lockdown.
FSR’s Pat Carlin said that while there was a decrease in the number of call-outs to the river during the early stages of the lockdown, this is already changing.
Over a 24-hour period last week, volunteers from the charity successfully brought two people from the river to safety, but the number of cases is on the rise.
Mr Carlin told the Belfast Telegraph: “The number of our call-outs have reduced because the lockdown has meant the footfall has reduced, but even during these past few days there has been an increase.
“Our concern is that when lockdown is lifted, there is going to be a massive, massive surge of people and I am worried that we are going to be busy.”
In the early hours of last Saturday, police helped communicate with a person in distress before bringing the person to safety shortly before FSR volunteers arrived on the scene.
Mr Carlin said the pandemic has brought additional stresses to the charity.
These include the added risk of volunteers contracting COVID-19 and a huge fall in the charity’s finances.
“Since we went into lockdown we have missed out on around £50,000 approximately,” said Mr Carlin.
“Our annual bucket collection should be on now, which usually will bring us much-needed funds.
“We also get around £3,000 a month from collection boxes in shops so we have been badly affected financially because the vast majority of our funding comes from public donations.
“We are still active, although our duty nights have had to be curtailed.
“But our pagers are still on 24 hours a day and we are still responding to call-outs.
“A big problem for us is protecting our volunteers because we cannot social distance if we are taking someone from the river or the railings.
“All we can do is wear our PPE and do the best we can, but when you are dealing with a person with mental health issues, it can be difficult.”
If you are in distress and need someone to talk to, you can call:
Samaritans on 116123
Lifeline on 0808 808 8000
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