Harrogate District Hospital Pharmacy team ‘walk to New Zealand’ in aid of local NHS charity
The team raised £1600 for the Trust by travelling over 22,000km
Staff who run the pharmacy at Harrogate District Hospital have walked, run and cycled the distance from Harrogate to Wellington, New Zealand – a total of 22,866km – in order to raise money for charity.
The challenge began in February this year with the aim of reaching New Zealand by Easter and raising £1,200 in the process. Overall, 45 Pharmacy staff and family members took part in the challenge and together were able to achieve this ambitious goal in time, surpassing their fundraising target and reaching £1,600.
Some of the money has already been spent on iPads to be given to patients so they can make video calls with loved ones during the pandemic.
Event organiser and Pharmacy Support Worker, Elizabeth Gill, said: “Each week I'd give the team an update for how far we'd gone and where we'd landed so for example if we reached Poland I'd let the team know and give them a few facts about the place.
"Harrogate Hospital is the place that really needs it the most with everything that is going on. I know now that the money has been used for iPads so patients can contact their family members.
"At a time when we are all stretched thin and Covid-19 has meant we can't get together outside of work, we wanted to come together to challenge ourselves while raising money for our hospital charity. We decided to do the ultimate challenge and get to Wellington in New Zealand as this is the furthest capital from Harrogate and also a country which is Covid-free!
“I'm so proud of everyone and how hard we've all worked. Our fundraising total is over £1600 which is incredible!”
Yvonne Campbell, Head of Charity and Business Development Project Manager, said: “Everyone at Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity is blown away by the amount raised by our Pharmacy team and the effort they’ve put in to supporting us. Recently, money raised by our supporters funded some portable DVD players for inpatients to use to watch films on while they’re in hospital, so the money they raise will go a long way to supporting services, patients and fellow colleagues at the Trust.”