First Aid 4 Gambia makes urgent appeal
A MID Argyll-based charity has launched a special appeal to help ship urgent supplies to Gambia.
Based in Inveraray, First Aid 4 Gambia provides first aid training and equipment for schools and nurseries in the country.
Following an accident in Kitty, where a taxi ran into a crowd leaving a football game, seriously injuring 30 people, the charity has launched an appeal to help cover shipping costs for a major donation of supplies.
Founder member of First Aid 4 Gambia Bill Nelson said: ‘In the hospitals cardboard is being used to deal with fractures and newspaper is being used to cover large bleeding wounds.’
He continued: ‘We have relied on the support of Reliance Medical Supplies, a UK manufacturer, to access supplies at discounted prices. They contacted me to see if we would be interested in some free donations and I accepted their offer. Later they contacted me to say they had six pallets of materials for us. When I showed them pictures of the accident and explained the lack of supplies in Gambia, they increased their donation. These supplies will be handed over to the Ministry of Health to be distributed to all hospitals and clinics. They have a value in excess of £50,000. We, however, are only a small charity and shipping will cost about £2,500. We have launched an appeal to raise funds to cover this and ask everyone to give a little if they can at www.mydonate. bt.com/events/gambiaappeal.
‘Or maybe there are some kind souls in Argyll who would run a coffee morning, cake sale or quiz to quickly help raise funds?’