Young daredevil Kian Pely is planning to take part in Bradford Hospitals’ Charity’s superhero abseil to raise money for its Rays a Smile appeal.
Kian, 11, from Bradford, was inspired to take part after watching the charity’s fundraising film, which features young charity star MollyMae Windle, also 11. MollyMae has been supporting the appeal because, due to her cystic fibrosis, she has frequent x-rays and understands how scary children can find them.
The Rays a Smile appeal, which launched in April, aims to raise £250,000 to create dedicated children’s waiting areas in both radiology departments at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, refurbish some scanning rooms to make them more child-friendly, and purchase specialist equipment which allows children to watch their favourite films and cartoons during an MRI scan.
More details and the appeal film, featuring MollyMae, can be found at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/rays-a-smile/
Kian said that he had undergone an x-ray himself when he broke his wrist, so he understood how children could be scared.
“I want children to feel comfortable when they come into hospital for an x-ray,” said Kian, who is an aspiring scientist. “The room is very dark, so I want to help if I can.
“I was really interested when I had my x-ray, as I am very interested in learning about biology and the human body, but I can see why children would be scared.”
The Tong High School pupil said he planned to dress as a “super humanoid” for the abseil, which has a superhero theme.
He added: “Normal humans have their own superpowers, such as love and kindness. I’ll be dressing in my own superhero outfit, which has a big heart on the front.”
Kian’s dad, Tomas Pely, said he was immensely proud of Kian. “He’s a brave boy and I’m very proud of why he’s doing it. It’s great to see him wanting to do something for other people, so we will be supporting him and raising as much money as possible.”
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “Kian is a fearless young man with a big heart and we’re very proud to have him fundraising for us.
“It’s lovely to see young people across our city getting behind our fundraising appeal, which will help them and their friends when they need it most. Hospital is a daunting place even for adults, so anything we can do minimise that anxiety and fear for our young patients is important.”
It is hoped the changes will also speed-up diagnoses and reduce the need for general anaesthetic, due to less scans being postponed and re-arranged due to high levels of anxiety.
Kian hopes to raise at least £300 by doing the abseil. If you would like to sponsor Kian, visit his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kian-pely
It’s not too late to take part in the abseil, which will take place at Bradford Royal Infirmary on Saturday 21 September! If you would like to join Kian and the brave band of superheroes, visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/event/charity-superhero-abseil/
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
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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 per cent 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