Operator supports relief charity

CANFORD Healthcare has donated medical/care equipment and supplies to the Tunbridge Wells-based Ukrainian Relief Group for use by the medical services in war-torn Ukraine, as well as refugees arriving in the UK.

Following an appeal by the URG in late 2022, the care home operator arranged for its volunteers to pick up items that were not currently in use.

These included 30 beds and other furniture, wheelchairs, hoists, support equipment, fire extinguishers, personal protective equipment, old bedding (including sheets for cutting up and using as wound dressings), a CD player and a piano.

The beds are now being put to good use in Lviv and frontline hospitals in Kherson and Dnipro, while the other equipment has gone to other hospitals (including one for soldier amputees), GP surgeries, medical centres and dentists in Kiev and other cities.

This is just one part of the 60 tonnes of donations of supplies and equipment that the URG has collected and sent to Ukraine since the conflict began a year ago.

The group is co-ordinated by Rich Akehurst a seasoned ex-soldier, search expert, paramedic and medical instructor.

It all started last March when Rich and his Ukrainian wife Inna got together several boxes of their own items for the relief effort.

They ended up collecting and co-ordinating donations within the local area and, thanks to the generosity of residents, these were so numerous that a main road into the town had to be closed for a few hours.

Rich and Inna are assisted by volunteer Sue Ramsay, who previously worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Pakistan with UK Aid, plus 12-15 other core volunteers at the TN2 community centre (known as the Hub) that is currently the URG’s home, and made temporarily available by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

Some donations are earmarked for Ukraine while others are made available for refugees.

Volunteers use their assorted skills and knowledge to fix, renovate and service equipment, including 200 push bikes destined for refugees.

The Hub also acts as a welcome centre where Ukrainian refugees can meet up, receive donations of clothes, shoes, toys, bicycles and household items and children can play in safety. Other items are sold at a pop-up shop in the town centre.

“We welcome refugees (or ‘guests’, as we call them), and try to help them get their lives back to some sort of normality. We also provide everything from socks to sofas, deliver furniture for free and recycle items that we can’t use, so nothing is wasted,” said Rich. There have been – and still are – many challenges. “Despite these, the URG has gone from strength to strength, and that’s a great achievement,” Rich added.

“It’s been incredible. We have received some extraordinary and often valuable donations, including an ostrich egg and even a blood bank.

“When we put out a message on social media asking for a guitar for a young Ukrainian refugee, we were offered 12 within an hour.

“We’re also incredibly grateful for the use of a van donated by the Polish government and for a continuous supply of knitted toys and blankets from the readers of Woman’s Weekly magazine.”

At Script Media, we try to get things right but occasionally, we make mistakes. If you have a complaint about a story featured in our magazine or on our website, please, in the first instance, contact us by email: dm@scriptmedia.co.uk We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice as demanded by the Independent Press Standards Organisation. For details on the code and what to do should you be unsatisfied with the way we handle your complaint, please visit www.ipso.co.uk www.caringuk.co.uk

Advertising Healthcare Product Manager: Bev Green Tel: 01226 734288 bg@scriptmediagroup.co.uk

Assistant Sales Manager: Tracy Stacey Tel: 01226 734480 caringuk1@scriptmediagroup. co.uk

Publishers

Script Media 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS. info@caring-uk.co.uk

Editorial Operations Director: Dominic Musgrave Tel: 01226 734407 dm@scriptmediagroup.co.uk

Studio Manager: Paul Hopkinson Tel: 01226 734711 ph@scriptmediagroup.co.uk

Assistant Studio Manager: Scott Firth Tel: 01226 734414 sf@scriptmediagroup.co.uk

Database enquiries to: 01226 734695 circulation@ scriptmediagroup.co.uk

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of all content, the publishers do not accept liability for error, printed or otherwise, that may occur.

Follow us on Twitter @caringuk