Charity takes therapy into lockdown homes
A charity taking vital oxygen therapy out to multiple sclerosis patients on lockdown at home during the COVID-19 outbreak needs your help.
Oban MS Therapy Centre has dug into its funds to buy two portable oxygen machines so it can continue to get help to people who need it while its oxygen chamber in Glencruitten Road is shut.
It hopes well-wishers will now help build funds back up by sending in donations.
The portable machines, dropped-off and picked up by volunteers, are not as good as the chamber at the centre but are better than nothing, says its manager Nik MacKechnie.
Before coronavirus struck, about 24 people were using the chamber weekly, some twice a week, to help get a good oxygen flow pushed through their body.
‘This therapy makes a massive difference to people and that’s why we had to make sure we kept it up. The centre totally relies on donations. The machines were expensive so they've left a hole in our funds. We really hope people will help us fill that hole back up,’ added Nik.
This year marks the MS Centre’s 30th year in town, helping people of all ages who are living with the condition that involves the central nervous system and can affect vision, limb movement, sensation and balance.
The chamber at the centre can accommodate four people people. Once inside, pressure is dropped - for most it equates to being about 16 feet under sea taking about eight minutes - before occupants breathe oxygen through hoses attatched to masks. Sessions last about one hour.
‘They don’t go anywhere but the pressure is like going under the sea. It pushes the oxygen to all the places the body needs for it to work,’ said Nik.
And added: ‘If people stopped getting oxygen therapy, their health would deteriorate. The consequences of not getting it would be different for everyone. That's the nature of MS. For some, their legs would feel unbearably heavy.
‘The machines are not as good as the chamber but it’s better than having nothing.'
Anyone wanting to help the MS Therapy Centre can call in to make a donation, Monday to Friday, following current social distancing guidelines.