Friends scale heights for fundraising challenge
Assistant practitioner Alli McCormack scaled great heights with her friend Vicky Hampton to raise money for the mental health ward where she works.
They recently climbed Snowdon and raised £1,000 for the activity department on Samphire Ward, which is part of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
Last year Vicky lost her mum after a very short battle with cancer. Her mum’s mental ill health made it hard for Vicky to have a relationship with her and she wished she could have done more for her. But she said: “Fortunately, my mum was taken care of by the amazing staff on Samphire Ward. They gave her the best care, through the hardest of times.”
Alli and Vicky have been friends for more than 25 years and wanted to do something together to raise funds for activities on the ward, that would benefit individuals accessing the service.
The ward is now hoping to buy a laptop for service users to use when applying for benefits, for when they need to source information about organisations and for printing pictures for their self soothe boxes/calm boxes.
Staff also want to fund a single hob to use for group cooking sessions, as well as a waffle maker and smoothie maker.
Chief nurse Anthony Deery thanked Alli and Vicky for their exceptional efforts and said: “We really appreciate the donation to the ward and the chance to expand on the facilities for patients to make their lives better.”