Coronavirus, Carriers, and Closure.

⭐️ UPDATE ON CORONAVIRUS – original post written 16th March at 5pm, edited on 17th March at 6pm, 17th March 9pm, 18th March 11am  ⭐️

The West Yorkshire Sling Library service is very dear to me, I have been running it for nearly ten years and I refer to it as my third baby. It is a community based service, and a small business, both – run by staff and by many wonderful volunteers who have given their time and expertise over the years. Today we have to make hard decisions, and we massively appreciate your support now and in the weeks or months to come.

Coronavirus is of course a worrying time for a lot of us, and we are all busy trying to navigate it all, so here is our most recent update based on advice from medical professionals, the government, and of course, common sense!

⭐️ DROP-IN SESSIONS will close from 18/3/20 until further notice. As social distancing is advised, we feel this is the responsible thing to do to protect our users. If our venues remain open and nothing else changes, we should be able to offer booked appointment slots at strategic points in the calendar for families needing our services, or wanting to drop something off. Please contact us on wyslinglibrary@outlook.com for further details, and keep updated using this Facebook page.

⭐️ ADVICE AND SUPPORT All our carrier advice, sling support and carrier fitting services will still be available via online messaging and video chat. We will still be providing support for carriers out on hire, and hope to maintain our service with support on the phone or by messenger. Thankfully we have never been better placed to offer remote services. Please do come and join our Facebook group – The West Yorkshire Sling Library Chat and Advice.

⭐️ 1-2-1 appointments will remain available, in person at Farsley, or as a virtual appointment (no contact needed). We will be offering these for as long as our household remains symptom-free, and our strict hygiene precautions will apply. Any booked appointment can be changed to an online appointment easily. We are waiving our usual cancellation policy. You can book an appointment by contacting us on wyslinglibrary@outlook.com.

⭐️ CARRIER HIRE is available via collection (no contact needed, we can leave it ready for you using our drop box) or send it out to you by post. Our carriers are washed carefully, and rested/isolated in between hires for a minimum of 72 hours to ensure they are 100% safe to use and enjoy.  You can read about our hygiene and safety policy here – https://wyslinglibrary.com/the-library/hygiene/

⭐️ ALREADY HIRED? If you have a carrier out on hire, and would like to keep hiring it, we absolutely appreciate your support. We have had lots of supportive messages over the past few days as we have gathered advice together about the right path for the sling library to take, and we know there are many families out there that want to continue to support us over this difficult period.

To pay it forward, we are offering an initial two weeks of hire extra free with any four week extension to a hire due for return between 19/3/20 and 13/4/20 – to allow families who are isolating the chance to return. Just ask for this to be applied to your hire account. We may extend this offer in the future depending on how long we remain closed, but we are keeping our fingers crossed it won’t be needed.

We are taking these measures to ensure that all the families that use our service are protected, and can continue to use carriers safely and comfortably throughout this strange and worrying time. We have already been in touch with self isolating families who are using their carriers at home – ‘lifesaver!’ and for getting out and about in less populated areas for fresh air and letting off steam. Regardless of your use for a carrier, we are here for support throughout, and we thank you all for your support – now and in the future.

Stay safe and healthy!

Nicola and the WYSL team.