A dedicated team of palliative care specialists will take on a two-day charity challenge next month when they walk 23 miles to raise money for a hospice providing specialist care in Africa.
The health and care professionals from Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust’s (NCH&C) Priscilla Bacon Centre, in Norwich, will walk around villages north of Aylsham to spell out “Ethiopia”, taking in Erpingham, Thurgarton, Hanworth, Ingworth,Oulton, Plumstead, Itteringham and Aldborough along the way.
A total of four doctors, four specialist nurses, one social worker, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, a ward nurse and a nursing auxiliary will take part in the walk, which takes place in three 7.5 mile sections on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 August.
As well as raising vital funds, they also hope to raise awareness of The Priscilla Bacon Centre’s twinning link with Hospice Ethiopia, which provides care to patients who are coming to the end of their lives in an urban African setting.
The twinning was set up in 2011 to enable patients in Ethiopia to receive the best possible care and to support Hospice Ethiopia in raising awareness of palliative care among professionals and the public.
It also enables the sharing of ‘best practice’ between staff at Hospice Ethiopia and The Priscilla Bacon Centre, which provides care to patients who have life-limiting conditions, such as cancer and motor-neurone disease, from its base at Colman Hospital, in Norwich.
Dr Katie Soden, Lead Consultant at NCH&C’s Priscilla Bacon Centre, said: “We are always looking for ways to increase awareness of our twinning links with Hospice Ethiopia and thought this sponsored walk would be the ideal way to raise some much needed money at the same time.
“Our partners in Addis Ababa have recently had to shut their inpatient beds due to lack of funding but are now running an enhanced community based service, so they need all the money we can raise to support this. They have no government funding and rely totally on donations from groups such as ourselves.
“We’ve split the walk into three sections, and will finish the two days with a fundraising barbeque at a colleague’s home. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun as well as attracting some generous donations for this amazing charity.
“The twinning with Hospice Ethiopia has been an excellent opportunity to share our working practices, as well as hearing about the different approaches that they take to improve the quality of life for their patients, which we could potentially implement locally.
“So far the link has benefitted both ourselves in Norfolk and our partners in Africa, and we look forward to it continuing long into the future.”
You can sponsor the team online at: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/hospiceethiopia
Or by sending a cheque to: Hospice Africa, C/O Dr Katie Soden, The Priscilla Bacon Centre, Colman Hospital, Unthank Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 2PJ.
