New quiet room developed thanks to fundraisers

A quiet room providing a ‘haven of peace’ has been created at Goole and District Hospital thanks to generous fundraisers.

The ‘quiet room’ on ward 2, which will be used for relatives of patients receiving palliative care, was the idea of Josie Head. A member of the public heard about her idea and made the first donation in memory of her husband who had recently died on the ward.

Josie launched an 18-month campaign to raise the necessary money, along with members of St Mary’s Community Challenge, treasurer Pauling Cowling and secretary Kevin Flinn.

Josie said: “I would like to thank everyone who has got behind this project. The room provides a haven of peace for families and people who are at the end of their life.  I’m so grateful to everyone who got behind this campaign.” 

Donations came pouring in from the Olive Hunt Charity Shop in Edinburgh Street as they got behind the campaign and donated more than £400.

Hetty Walker and Kath Wilde, volunteers at the shop, popped along to the opening of the too. Hetty said: “I think for me the important bit is just how comforting and relaxing the room is for people when they need the peace. It’s a nice place for people to go at a difficult time and be private.”

Rockfitness Gym in Goole also got behind the campaign. They organised a ‘rock-a-thon’ which had people exercising nonstop from 9pm until 9am.

They also took part in a tyre flip challenge in the town centre. They flipped a 12 stone tyre over repeatedly. In total the gym raised more than £900.

Yorkshire Water, which was working on a local pumping station, didn’t miss out on the opportunity to get involved with the campaign. Josie made an application to their Goole Community Fund and they donated £1,000.

Finally the charity for Goole and District Hospital, The Health Tree Foundation supported the project with a donation of more than £5,000.

NLaG associate director of strategy and planning Kerry Carroll said: “It’s great to see the results. Thank you so much to Josie for all of her fundraising and to The Health Tree Foundation for their support.”

Dr Maher Kherbek who works on ward 3 said: “From the minute the room opened we have had some nice comments.  Even when we have to take relatives in there to tell them bad news the first thing they say is what a lovely room it is.”

Watch Josie Head talking about the rool here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id1j3TUrZVM&feature=youtu.be