Ten-year-old Molly-Mae Windle has been hailed a fundraising superstar by Bradford Hospitals’ Charity after raising £400 for its new hospital appeal.
The St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School (Clayton) pupil is championing Bradford Hospitals’ Charity’s Rays a Smile appeal, which aims to make radiology services more child-friendly, because she has had many scans in the past. Molly-Mae was born with Cystic Fibrosis, which means she has regular hospital appointments, X-rays and ultrasound scans.
Molly-Mae, who also features in the charity’s appeal film, organised a Mother’s Day hamper raffle and Easter hamper raffle all on her own to raise the money. She said: “I was keen to help with this fundraising appeal because this is something I know children like me will benefit from.
“The changes planned will make children feel less scared and more comfortable when attending X-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans. It’s a very daunting experience for both children and parents and my aim is to make a child smile when attending radiology.”
The Rays a Smile appeal was launched by Bradford Hospitals’ Charity to create a more child-friendly environment in the radiology departments at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, as well as to buy specialist kit to distract children during scans. The entire project will cost £250,000 to transform services into bright and welcoming environments for children in both hospitals.
Thinking of other children
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “We are blown away by how much money Molly-Mae raised for our appeal! We can’t thank her enough for thinking of other children who will need scans, just like she does. She is a very determined young lady and, we’re sure, one of our future fundraising superstars!”
Molly-Mae’s mum, Rebecca Windle, said: “I’m extremely proud of Molly-Mae. She loves helping others and making them smile. She’s a real inspiration.”
Dr Lee-Anne Elliott, paediatric radiology consultant, said:” Molly-Mae has made an amazing contribution to our appeal to help young people in Bradford who need to x-rays or scans. Her enthusiasm for our appeal is wonderful to see, and she is a great example of what a young person can achieve for something so worthwhile. She has proved to be a fantastic ambassador for our ‘Rays a Smile’ appeal already and we are incredibly grateful.”
Read all about Rays a Smile and watch Molly-Mae in the appeal video at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/rays-a-smile/
You can make a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/raysasmile2019
To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors:
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities based around the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.
- Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!
- In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.
- With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.
For further media information, please contact Kelly Thornham, Communications Officer, at communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 382265
Note to Editors:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98% of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
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For more information please visit www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk