Flying doctors in charity spin
Fund raiser to mark Hairmyres consultants’ retirement
A fundraising event inspired by a husband-and-wife team who are retiring as consultants after more than 20 years at an East Kilbride hospital has raised thousands of pounds.
Internationally-renowned knee surgeon Alberto Gregori and A&E consultant Patricia O’Connor, from Chapelton, were joined by their colleagues, as well as patients, at University Hospital Hairmyres to pedal and walk their way to raising vital funds for a charity close to their hearts.
The event raised more than £3500 for World Orthopaedic Concern in aid of Zambian organisation Flyspec – a cause both Alberto and Patricia have supported for many years by volunteering their services.
The unique flying medical charity provides the only means to get specialists out to the most vulnerable patients and is their only hope to receive high-level medical attention.
Following their official retirement at the end of the month, Alberto and Patricia – who have four grown-up children – plan to dedicate more time to the charity along with teaching and working with overseas development agencies.
Alberto said: “My best memory of working at Hairmyres is the privilege of building a good orthopaedic department with my colleagues.
“The possibility of so radically changing people’s lives for the better still gives me a buzz.
“The challenges we have faced and continue to face revolve around the difficulties in recruiting enough staff to fully man our service.
“I have been fortunate to have been involved in the development of the roles of extended scope practitioners in the support of our department and developing the role of physician associates in surgical specialities.
“I really have to thank all of the staff at Hairmyres and NHS Lanarkshire who have worked with me to achieve this.”
Patricia continued: “I was in the privileged position of being the first A&E consultant to be employed at Hairmyres and my first two years as the only A&E consultant hold special memories for me.
“While they were certainly the most challenging years, they were also an exciting and rewarding time of great change.
“Joining enthusiastic and supportive nursing staff and managers meant that as a team we were able to significantly improve the department.
“Such changes were the early steps to Hairmyres A&E becoming the high quality emergency department that it is today.
“I am extremely grateful to all my colleagues who share the goal of ‘clinical excellence’ in their day-today practice. I am also very happy that it is my own local emergency department.”
In a typical year, Flyspec fly surgical specialists over 25,000 nautical miles across the African country of Zambia and an average one-way trip is 500 kilometres.
At the Hairmyres fundraiser, Alberto and Patricia’s colleagues set up static bikes, with those taking part cycling an impressive 554km on the day.
However, including previous colleagues and patients who could not make it on the day but participated remotely, the actual distance was a remarkable 855km.
Cycling totalled 33 hours while fundraisers walked in excess of 500km with everyone in the hospital getting involved.
Visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/FlySpecDoctors if you would like to donate towards the final total.
The possibility of so radically changing people’s lives for the better still gives me a buzz... Alberto Gregori