A&E doctor who used his own heartbreak as a force for good
DESPITE his gruelling work as an A&E consultant and even in the most testing of circumstances, Dr Ben Jordan is always ready with a smile and kind word. He is often the last to leave at the end of a shift, staying behind to make sure his patients are comfortable.
His dedication to his work doesn’t end at the door, as he spends what little spare time he has on his other passion: raising money to improve the hospital he loves. In the past three years alone, he’s helped pull in £80,000.
The inspiration is his older brother, Dr Guy Jordan, his colleague at Frenchay NHS Hospital in Bristol, where Guy worked as a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care — and where he was taken after a terrible accident.
Five years ago, Guy was knocked off his bicycle and went under the wheels of an oil tanker.
More than 100 medical staff — all friends and colleagues of Guy and Ben — battled for 17 hours to save him before he died, aged 41.
Ben was at his brother’s side when he passed away and describes it as ‘the worst experience of my life — both surreal and devastating’.
Determined some good must come of it, Ben set up the Guy Jordan Memorial Fund in May 2015.
As well as running the London Marathon and walking 700 miles along the South West Coast Path with colleagues and former patients, he has taken part in a Tough Mudder challenge — a gruelling ten-mile obstacle course — and helped organise a charity ball and an 874-mile charity bike ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats.
‘I miss him every day,’ says Ben, a father of two. ‘Fundraising is important to help ensure he is not forgotten, and seeing the good that flows from it helps keep life positive.’
Ben and Guy, from Bristol, became work colleagues when Ben joined Frenchay Hospital in April 2013; Guy, five years his senior, had been working there since 2007.
‘Guy was a great sounding board and a sensitive doctor who always put his patients first,’ says Ben.
On the day of his accident, Guy was cycling with three friends — all consultants from Frenchay — when an oil tanker overtook him on a country lane. Ben was teaching a life- support course when a colleague called to say there had been an accident. At 2.30am the
SO FAR it’s helped pay for a new room for relatives, with colourful sofas and tea and coffee facilities. ‘My experience fed into my desire to make this environment better for when relatives are receiving the worst news of their lives,’ says Ben.
In the paediatric area there’s a new cartoon mural, new interactive toys, a sensory room and special soft-play zone aimed at children with learning difficulties to help calm them. For patients with dementia, there are pictures of local historical events on the walls and easy-to-read clocks. ‘Research has shown this helps them feel more at ease,’ says Ben.
The charity is also working with the intensive care unit to fund an outdoor space where longer-term patients can be taken on a ventilator to experience, as Ben puts it, ‘fresh air, sunlight and hope’.
Then there is the 20ft long art installation designed to highlight the need for organ donation; Guy’s own eyes were used to help restore the sight of five people. It hangs in