ELHT&Me is the fundraising arm of the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust which essentially raises funds for patient care and equipment that is not funded by the NHS. Based at the Royal Blackburn Hospital the Fundraising Manager is Denise Gee who, through the East Ribble District applied in December 2017 for an ELMC Grant to fund the purchase of video conferencing equipment. The application was successful with a grant of £4,650 being awarded in January 2018.
Denise tells us that this grant was the initial grant to launch a £1 million appeal, which has just reached the target, so this grant was very welcome and very special to ELHT&Me
The equipment, which is available and indeed used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allows young people to access speedy support for mental health issues from professional medical personnel without the need to travel into the hospital. Hundreds of patients in the Blackburn area benefit from this service.
Two 42″ televisions with professional conferencing facilities form the base station at Blackburn while two mobile tablets are available to staff to use in the community. The whole set up means that young people can gain instant support without the need to wait for a consultant appointment. This can be provided either locally or at a distance.
Denise explained how this equipment has been of great benefit to many, many young people, as well as the consultants and support staff, since it was installed and ELHT&Me are extremely grateful for the support they receive from Freemasons, not only for this grant but in many other ways.