SSCF newsletter - Issue 18 - January 2008
Our target for 2008
We hope to provide a £40,000 moveable operating table for the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
The SSCF is aiming to raise funds in 2008 to provide an up-graded operating table for the Royal Sussex County Hospital. This state of the art equipment - which gives better access and imaging, particularly for endovascular work - will cost in the region of £40,000.
It is an ambitious project for SSCF but one we are sure we can achieve with the help of our loyal supporters. If you have any ideas for fund raising events, please let me know.
I can help with promotional posters, raffle tickets, Invitations and virtually anything that needs a computer and colour printer.
Starting the new year on a sad note
Helen Liwicki, co-founder of SSCF, passed away peacefully and painlessly on 21st November 2007. Helen moved to Oxfordshire to be near her family in 2004 but in early 2006 she contracted bacterial meningitis which left her very disabled. She made slow, but steady progress in her recovery although she remained in residential care until her death. Helen had a simple funeral in Oxford on 30th November but a more substantial Memorial Service is to be held in Lancing College Chapel on 19th January at 11.00 a.m.
Helen and Consultant Surgeon, Philip Sommerville FRCS, founded the Sussex Stroke and Circulation fund in 1980, with the aim of raising money for research and to provide equipment to help with the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease in Sussex. Over £1,000,000 has been raised since it’s inception. Helen was Treasurer to the Fund until she left Brighton in 2004.
Men to get aneurysm screening
Men in England are to be offered screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), which can cause one of the body’s main blood vessels to burst and is the third most common cause of death among older men. Over the next five years, ultrasound screening will be rolled out across 60 centres to cover men aged 65 and over. This will save 700 lives a year within 10 years.
So far about £3m has been set aside for pilot projects – the Vascular Assessment Team at the Royal Sussex County Hospital have been running a regular programme of screening AAA since running their own pilot in 1999. They are hoping to be one of the 60 national centres funded by the Government as they already have in place the administrative processes as well as the expertise of 3 Vascular Scientists.
This is the NHS’s first men only screening programme. AAA kills around 3,000 men a year – roughly twice as many death as cervical cancer for women, which has it’s own screening programme.
Support provided in 2007
The following equipment was purchased for the Vascular Assessment Unit in 2007:
- A second portable scanner – this means the Vascular Team are now able to offer a scanning service at the daily “one stop” stroke clinic.
- Two sets of couch steps – for the Princess Royal Hospital and the Out Patient Department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
- Three hand held doppler machines – the latest equipment for scanning patients who have limited mobility.
- An exercise bike for the Claudication Clinic exercise classes, which are held twice weekly at Brighton General Hospital.
We are also meeting travel costs to London for a number of patients from Sussex who are taking part in a Carotid Artery Disease Study at University College Hospital.
Thanks to supporters
Since April's newsletter we have to thank:
- The Laurence Misner Charitable Trust
- Cuckfield Rifle Club
- Dr K. Singleton
- Mrs. K. Lau
- Cornford & Sons who continue to raise funds for us through the sale of the late Christine Goldthope’s hand made cards
- In lieu of flowers: The family and friends of Dennis Singleton and Michael Yelland
- Plus all of you who have continued to support us throughout the year.
