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Nurse launches #staytogether fundraising campaign to buy tablets for hospital patients

More than £15k already raised to help isolated patients keep in touch with friends and family during lockdown

A Manchester nurse working on the frontline of the deadly Coronavirus crisis has launched an ambitious campaign in a bid to raise £25k to provide hospitals across the country with equipment that will allow critically ill patients to keep in touch with family and friends during the outbreak.

Leona Harris, a staff nurse at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, said the idea for the #staytogether campaign came after she witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by the lockdown which restricts families from visiting patients to try and slow the spread of the virus.

Based on ward nine, a dedicated Covid-19 isolation ward, her efforts are already benefiting local people after she raised £1000 which was donated to the Trust’s Hospitals Charity thanks to an auction of sporting memorabilia donated by generous friends. Her colleague Elizabeth Sandham has also raised enough money to buy 3 iPads for the hospital.

Leona has now helped to launch #staytogether along with husband Nick and his colleagues, as part of a huge effort to purchase more equipment to urgently distribute to hospitals across Manchester hospitals and further afield.

Commenting on the campaign she said: When someone is admitted to hospital they are isolated from the moment they arrive on a ward, and that isolation extends to their family who have no further contact, or very limited contact, with their loved ones. It is so upsetting, people have passed away without any family being with them.

“Staff at the hospital are doing their best and some have lent their own phones and tablets to patients to help them keep in touch, but it’s not enough.”

The #staytogether campaign has the support of Leona’s husband Nick who rallied his colleagues at the law firm where he works; many of whom are donating the money that they would have used to commute to work and who have managed to help raise in excess of £15,000 within a matter of days.

Nick, a lawyer at Simpson Millar which employs more than 200 staff from across the City, added: “There isn’t a single person in Manchester or anywhere else who hasn’t been affected by Coronavirus, personally or professionally.

“When Leona described to me what she was witnessing first-hand it became a mission to raise money for tablets so her patients could keep in touch with their families.

“I’m so proud of what Leona and her nursing colleagues are achieving. It is incredible and they really are heroes.

“I am also proud of the immense efforts my colleagues, who are fantastic people, are putting in to rally and support the #staytogether cause.

“As a law firm that has always been supported by the people of Manchester, it’s really special that we can do something to help the people of Manchester.

“Already we’re looking forward to more equipment being delivered to those who most need it at both local hospitals, and hospitals further afield.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gina Francey .