How #staytogether began

Do you know that very often, the only way a patient who is on a Covid-19 hospital isolation ward can see or speak to their loved ones, is by borrowing a phone or tablet from a Doctor or Nurse?

And all too often, we are hearing distressing stories where Covid-19 patients have died without being able to see, or even, in some cases, speak to their family or friends, simply because there weren’t enough phones or tablets to go around!

Leona Harris, a nurse at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury started raising funds to purchase ipads after seeing first hand the impact Covid-19 and visiting restrictions were having on patients and their families.

“When someone is admitted to hospital they are isolated from the moment they arrive on a ward, and that isolation extends to their family who have no further contact, or very limited contact, with their loved ones. It is so upsetting, people have passed away without any family being with them.

“I could see that the staff at the hospital where I work are doing their best and some have lent their own phones and tablets to patients to help them keep in touch, but it’s not enough.”

The #staytogether campaign has the support of Leona’s husband Nick who coordinated the fundraising efforts of the law firm where he works, and his colleagues at Simpson Millar to help raise in excess of £27.5k within a matter of days which has been donated directly to the cause.

#staytogether

#staytogether is a simple idea.

At a time when the government is quite rightly urging social distancing, we want to keep families and friends together when they need it the most.

Any funds we raise will be used to purchase tablets for hospitals that have been selected by colleagues at Simpson Millar. This will allow patients who are isolated because of Covid-19 to see their loved ones.

We started raising money in April to help patients and we've already raised over £70,000. You can see what we've achieved on our original page here