HOSPITAL staff are preparing to plunge 10,000ft to raise cash for the wards where they work.
Ten workers and two residents are planning a sponsored parachute jump next month to buy equipment, furniture and other items for Colchester’s two hospitals.
The oldest medic on the jump will be cancer specialist Dr Philip Murray, 57, who will be raising cash for the 16-bed Rhys Lewis cancer ward at Essex County Hospital.
He will be joined by fellow doctors Kev Naik and Alero Rone-Orugboh, Emma Mazerolle, who is a nurse on the ward, healthcare assistant Derinda Page and Dave Pickett, 36, whose wife Beverley is a ward sister.
Trainee nurse Ian Heasley, 26, and his friend, healthcare assistant Caroline Gibson, are also jumping, but will be raising money for West Bergholt ward at Colchester General Hospital.
Former airline flight assistant Mr Healey joked: “After being a trolley dolly for many years with Easyjet and Virgin Atlantic, I’m used to planes – but not jumping out of them!”
Nurse Grace Resoco and healthcare assistant Alexandra Clarke, will be jumping, too, in aid of Colchester General Hospital’s isolation ward.
Hayley Heffernan, a secretary in the pharmacy department at Colchester General Hospital, is jumping in aid of to support the special care baby unit and will be joined by grandmother Pat Ellis, 62, of Oakfield Close, Stanway.
Anyone else interested in joining the group for the March 20 skydive can call 01206 745282, or e-mail fundraising @colchesterhospital.nhs.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here