The crutch of the matter: Bid to give new life to hospital kit

Bexhill Lions Club, The Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Caring Community are on a mission to give new life to unwanted crutches and walking sticks
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Lion Liz McGlynn, the project organiser, said: “Crutches and walking sticks are available for hospital patients but recycling them can help the environment, save the NHS money, and also help others in need. We would be delighted for the return of as many crutches and walking sticks as possible.”

Individuals can drop items off at Bexhill Caring Community, Sackville Road, Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 3pm.

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These will be sorted and all hospital marked items will be collected by Bexhill Lions Club and delivered to the physiotherapy unit at the Conquest Hospital. The rest will be made available by Bexhill Caring Community to residents for a small fee.

Vicky Sandalls, operations support officer at the Conquest outpatient physiotherapy, said: “We are very pleased to be part of this initiative and welcome it wholeheartedly. It will not only help save money but will also help us plan our operation going forward.

“Unfortunately we cannot accept walking frames or wheelchairs.”

Local care homes can contact Bexhill Lions via the web site or email [email protected] to arrange collection of unused or unwanted equipment.

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Jackie Haggerty, manager at Bexhill Caring Community, added: “This is a great idea and we are delighted to be part of it. We hope to be able to help many more individuals as well as raising much needed funds for the charity. We are totally reliant on donations and fundraising as we receive no support from either local or central government.”

Lion president Nick Porter said: “Feedback from a number of surveys in 2016 showed that people want to do all they can to reduce financial waste in our NHS services and also to support local caring community organisations.

“So it makes perfect sense to respond to these views with this new initiative.

“We are asking local residents to pull together to see how much of this unwanted equipment we can recycle, repair and reuse.”

Contact Bexhill Lions on 0845 833 9591 or visit www.bexhill-lions.org for details.

Bexhill Caring Community can be contacted on 01424 215116 or [email protected].

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