THE congregation (sangat) of the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara has donated an incredible £40,400 to Bradford Hospitals’ Charity’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Fund to help medics in the fight against Covid-19.
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity – the charitable arm of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – will use the donation to fund additional equipment for the ICU at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
The money will help fund an additional mobile ultrasound machine, which has specialist probes to help clinicians monitor and treat the most poorly patients in ICU, and two Sara Combiliser rehabilitation chairs, which provide out-of-bed mobilisation to critically ill patients. Early mobilisation of intensive care patients is believed to have many benefits for recovery.
Ajit Singh Gill, the President of the Gurdwara Management Committee, said: “We highly value and respect the work carried out by all the staff at Bradford Teaching Hospitals.
“Many of our congregation have and will continue to benefit from the great level of treatment they provide and therefore, within the space of a few days, the congregation have rallied to raise funds to benefit Bradford Teaching Hospitals to provide this life saving equipment. I am grateful and thankful to the local community for the great generosity shown in supporting this appeal.”
Karanjeet Kaur, Chair of the Gurdwara Trustees, said: “Our board of trustees supported this work and I am delighted that the Sikh community came together to raise this money. I hope this continues to show that the Sikh faith is one that will always help in times of need.”
Reaching out
Fellow trustee, Balvinder Singh Bains, who also works for the NHS, said: “The local Sikh community and congregation of the Gurdwara considered it their duty to assist the NHS in their fight against this pandemic during these unprecedented times.
“After reaching out to Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, they made us aware that this equipment would really enhance the level of treatment the Trust provides both now and in the future.”
Mel Pickup, Chief Executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara and everyone in its congregation who donated.
“Our critical care staff are highly skilled in treating the most poorly patients in our hospitals. The equipment we can purchase with this donation will enhance the already high quality treatment and care they provide.”
Hayley Collis, Head of Fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara and the Sikh community for choosing to support our hospitals with their kind and generous donation. Thank you to everyone who donated.”
You can find out more about the Bradford Hospitals’ Charity NHS Hospital Heroes appeal at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/nhshospitalheroes.
ENDS
Note to Editors:
Photo:
1st row left to right:
- Hardev Singh Dosanjh – Treasurer
- Gurmeet Singh – Head Priest
- Ajit Singh Gill – President of Management Committee
- Mohinder Singh Mann – Gen Sec
2nd row left to right:
- Balvinder Singh Bains – Gurdwara Trustee
- Rajwinder Singh Gill – Gurdwara Trustee Spokesperson
- Karenjeet Kaur – Chair of Trustees
- 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.