“Every day we see, first hand, the far reaching effects that renal failure and haemodialysis have on the patients and their families.
“We are well aware that these effects are not only physical but also impact on the patient's lifestyle, emotional wellbeing and their financial situation, so we decided to raise money to research improved treatments and ultimately find a cure for kidney disease.”
Nursing, healthcare support and admin staff proudly wearing their Kidney Research UK t-shirts after completing the Race for Research January challenge.
Yeovil renal unit staff
These are the words of staff from the B.Braun Avitum Yeovil Renal Unit. Seeing the constant impact of kidney disease and dialysis on patients and their families, the nursing, healthcare support workers and administrative staff at the unit decided to join Kidney Research UK’s January challenge, Race for Research.
Dialysis nurse, Kerry Gilbert, said: “It started with a few staff signing up but within a couple of days the majority of the staff in the unit decided to get involved! The timing of the challenge was also perfect as we all felt we had over indulged over the festive period and it seemed an ideal opportunity to kick start a healthy new year.”
Collectively, staff from the unit walked some 500 miles and ran 52.4 miles.
- Unit Manager, Sharon Dare, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Nurse, Kerry Gilbert, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Nurse, Dianne Richards, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Nurse, Alice Rosario, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Nurse, Eve Richards, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Nurse, Jacqueline Sims, walked 50 miles
- Dialysis Support Worker, Alex Laforteza, walked 50 miles
- Health Care Assistant, Jade Cross, walked 50 miles
- Health Care Assistant, Emily Poole, ran 26.2 miles
- Health Care Assistant, Lorelie Laforteza, walked 50 miles
- Health Care Assistant, Donna Westlake, ran 26.2 miles
- Administrator, Linda Hall, walked 50 miles.
Kerry continued: “We have all now completed our individual challenges. In general, we found it harder to complete than we first thought as a month seems a long time and we had to be quite dedicated to keep at it but the days and weeks raced past.
“It was great that so many of us were doing it as we were able to support and encourage one another. Also, several of us linked together through the Map my Walk app so we could monitor each other's progress and this helped to keep us motivated.
“And our patients have been very interested too, asking for regular updates and generously sponsoring us through our Just Giving page.”
Some £500 has been raised with more sponsorship still to be collected.
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