Whittington Health NHS Trust Charity Newsletter Summer 2020

Charity Newsletter Summer 2020 Coping with COVID-19 — the challenges of life on the frontline Rainbow Garden The C Factor — Helping Cancer Patients Find Their Voice Project Wingman The Little Things That Mean A Lot

“It has been an incredible period for the Whittington Health Trust and our Charity — the support from our local community has been remarkable. People have shaved their heads, written charity songs, held online comedy events and run marathons to support us.

Our Charity has worked hard to make sure the money we have raised is used to support the welfare and health of our staff and patients during this difficult time. We wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of our local community — but we need that support to continue so we can carry on with this vital work.

To everyone who has supported us we would like to give you our heartfelt thanks.”

Baroness Julia Neubeger, Chair of Whittington Health NHS Trust

Tony Rice, Chair of The Whittington Health Charity

Coping with COVID – the challenges of life on the frontline Heidi Edmundson is a Consultant in the Emergency Department at Whittington Hospital. Her work is unpredictable; she has to prepare for anything that comes through the ‘front door’. Heidi has been telling us about her experience of dealing with COVID-19 — and the support that helped her and her team through an unprecedented crisis.

How did you and your team cope at the start of this crisis?

In February we began to see a small number of patients with suspected Coronavirus. We needed to develop a system to ensure that we could see and test those patients safely while isolating them from others. Initially these were only a small number but, as the pandemic progressed the amount of these patients increased.

During this time, we were seeing a lot of very sick patients who required specialist interventions.

What were the biggest challenges?

We needed to make numerous changes to the environment, clinical pathways and to how we worked – such as wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). I am still staggered that at the beginning of 2020 most of us had never heard of COVID-19 and we had to learn rapidly about it and the best ways of managing it as we went along. New information was coming out regularly. During those early weeks things were constantly

changing. New protocols and guidelines were being introduced and updated. At times it felt a little overwhelming.

How did the crisis affect the hospital staff?

People were anxious about what might happen in the future and the fear of the unknown. Many people were worried about catching the virus themselves or passing it on to their families at home. Some of the team moved into other accommodation or sent their children away to live with relatives and that was hard for them.

How has the support from our local community helped the Emergency Department team during this time?

The support, kindness and generosity from the local community has been amazing. I am being honest when I say many of us have been moved to tears by it. At times many of us felt guilty about the generosity shown to us.

We all want to do the best for our patients, but it was uplifting to see that feeling reciprocated and reflected back at us. Personally, I feel it will take us years, if not a lifetime, to come to terms with what has happened but one of the positives was the feeling of pulling and working together.

What will you remember about the support?

Practically it felt like a huge army of people had swept in and removed many of the things that make life complicated or frustrating. This meant that we just had to turn up and do our job. On an emotional level the sense of being cared for was immensely powerful and, at times, I felt sustained by it.

The delivery of food via ‘Meals for the NHS’ made a huge

difference — knowing that there was easily accessible food readily available and it was delicious. To me it was incredibly moving that people wanted to feed us. I think that this tapped into something bigger than the individual; a sense of coming together with everyone using their talents to work towards a common goal.

The other initiative that means a lot to me is Project Wingman, where volunteers from furloughed airline crews set up a first-class lounge to provide a space for hospital staff to decompress and download. I am immensely proud that Whittington Health had the very first lounge. I have a particular reason to feel a special bond with the cabin crew. It was my birthday in April and so I had to cancel my party. My sister got in touch with Project Wingman and they threw me a surprise birthday party complete with cake, balloons and a video link with family and friends in Northern Ireland!

Emergency department wellness animation During the pandemic, our Emergency Department team held wellness sessions, where they drew their emotional experiences of working in such a high pressure environment. With our support they were able to turn this into a video showing the journey they had gone through.

See the full video here: https://vimeo.com/435039026

The C Factor — helping cancer patients find their voice This unique project provides psychological support to patients with cancer and has won a Macmillan Award for Excellence in Innovation. The C Factor uses storytelling and theatre techniques to help patients communicate, share experiences and gain the psychological tools to self-manage the emotional challenges of cancer.

“It has helped put my own problems in context and made me realise it’s ok to have cancer.”

“I am usually intimidated by support groups in case I can’t articulate what I mean or feel. But at The C Factor I never felt that pressure.”

Your generous donations have helped fund this project but we need your support to keep making a big difference.

Project Wingman — first class support What started as a simple idea to provide staff with free tea and pastries before starting their shift mushroomed into something much bigger — thanks to our supporters and the cabin crew of some major airlines!

After British Airways, Easyjet, Norwegian and Scandinavian airlines grounded their aircraft and furloughed their staff, teams of cabin crew volunteered to turn our rest area into a First Class lounge.

Your donations paid for furniture and accessories, including a mindfulness room, and the cabin crew served free newspapers, teas, coffees and snacks to hospital staff.

It was so successful that the project has spread to other hospitals across the country.

What began at Whittington

went nationwide!

Captain Alex Jolly from British Airways is team leader of the Wingman project at Whittington Health.

How did you get involved with Whittington Health?

I have always been in awe of NHS workers — I am fascinated by the buzz in hospitals. After my flight schedule was cancelled I noticed one of our BA captains on a work forum advertising the chance to help set up peer support lounges within local NHS hospitals. I didn’t waste any time signing up and I live near the Whittington – the launch hospital.

What is your role?

I am a Team Leader at the lounge. My most important job is providing care and support (and a half decent cup of tea) for the wonderful NHS staff here. Other jobs include communicating with the hospital’s main points of

contact, maintaining health and safety standards, organising a roster for the volunteers, managing training of new recruits, and liaising with Project Wingman sponsorship and donations teams. Recently, I have been working with the A&E team to share my experiences of dealing with highly stressful situations.

How much of your job involves caring for NHS staff?

I would say everything that we do at Whittington Health revolves around the mantra of caring for the NHS staff.

Any services we can provide as crew at the hospital are at the disposal of the staff. It has been a hugely humbling experience.

Which skills that you have learned in the airline industry are useful in the Wingman lounge?

Dealing with a crisis or emergency/cancellation means

that I am fairly experienced at customer facing roles. I like to think my calm, structured approach to handling issues may have helped during the toughest times in the hospital — especially in our first few weeks.

Spending time with multiple crew over the years, I’ve also become quite good at remembering names, which helps with the amount of visitors in our lounge!

What does the future hold for the Wingman project?

We plan to stay at the Whittington for as long as they will have us! We have made some lifelong friends during our time here and really feel like part of the Whittington family.

We may need to change our hours slightly as we go back to work, but we know how important having a quiet space to decompress is within the hospital and will aim to keep it running.

Rainbow Garden — adding colour to our children’s ward “If a sick child is kept active, there is a much higher chance of a faster recovery,” Kerry Robinson, Consultant Paediatrician.

Last year we raised £250,000 to transform the outdoor play area at Whittington Hospital into a ‘Rainbow Garden’.

It was designed in collaboration with The Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, Whittington Health’s Paediatric team and patients.

Play is integrated into children’s treatment at the hospital, with their activities purposely designed to accelerate their recovery, and improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

As its name suggests the play area features colourful rainbow canopies as well as decking areas, a London cityscape construction play area, chalkboards and tactile panels. There’s even space for pet rabbits which help reduce children’s anxiety.

A big thank you to everyone who donated to help fund the Rainbow Garden.

The Little Things That Mean A Lot The support of the Whittington Health Charity is vital to the aim of offering patients the highest standards of care in the best possible surroundings. The Charity funds the care that the NHS cannot provide, paying for equipment, projects and support for patients and staff.

• Partnering with Vans for Bands to provide a tour bus with beds to give staff a break.

• Providing water bottles for all staff – dehydration is a big issue for those wearing PPE. • Providing hand cream for staff to help with dry hands.

• Delivering meals to staff provided by local restaurants in partnership with Meals for the NHS. • Providing packs of essentials for patients to take home when they leave hospital.

• Supplying training manikins to help diagnose COVID-19 patients more efficiently.

• Installing easy to read clocks making it simpler for staff wearing PPE. • Buying 10,000 face masks from local companies for staff to use outside of work.

We need your support Our charity would not be able to care for our patients and staff without the continued support of our local community.

We need donations to continue caring for the welfare of our staff and patients, buying the latest equipment and producing state of the art facilities.

How can you donate?

Online justgiving.com/whittington Post The Whittington Hospital Charitable Funds Fundraising and Communications Office Jenner Building Whittington Hospital Magdala Avenue N19 5NF Text WHIT 10 on 70085 to donate ÂŁ10 Want to have a chat?

Call us on 020 7288 3402 or email fundraising.whitthealth@nhs.net

Registered Charity Number: 1056452