Equipment purchased for Guardian Angels children’s Unit
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Two vital pieces of extra equipment have been bought for the Guardian Angels children’s unit at York Hospital, as funds continue to come in for the life- saving facility.
More than 15 months after The Press’s Guardian Angels Appeal reached its £300,000 target to build two state-of-the-art high-dependency rooms at the Wigginton Road site, York people are still donating money to the cause.
Their fundraising efforts have enabled the hospital to buy a desperately-needed intensive care pod and monitor to transfer critically ill babies to other hospitals for treatment.
Dr Robin Ball, a consultant paediatrician at York Hospital, said: “The Guardian Angels charity has spent £14,000 on these two pieces of equipment.
“The pod is for exceedingly sick babies who require a high level of monitoring and care during transfer to other hospitals to keep them alive.
“There aren’t good ways to keep babies strapped down and warm, comfortable and protected inside an ambulance without this equipment.
“In the past, some babies were moved about in a car seat and some moved on hospital trolleys – neither was ideal.
“We are very grateful. The people of York have gone above and beyond the original appeal and the money that is still being raised will continue to benefit the care of the sickest babies and children in York.”
Among the fundraisers who have recently donated cash to the Guardian Angels unit are a group of teenagers at Millthorpe School, in York.
Sophie Soanes, Laura Stables, Ebony Harrison, Isabella Nugent, Lucy Birkett, Alice Wherrett and Lily Proctor gave up their spare time to go carol singing in the Dringhouses area before Christmas, raising £310.
Sophie, 14, said: “It feels good to be raising money for a local charity so we know exactly who we are helping.”
Alice Wherrett, Sophie Soanes, and Lily Proctor, who along with friends Ebony Harrison, Bella Nugent, Laura Stables and Lucy Birkett raised money for the Guardian Angels Appeal by carol singing at Christmas
Story and photo by kind permission of The Press.
