A nurse is hoping to raise some cash to help buy some much-needed toiletries for the stroke ward at Ninewells Hospital.
Bank nurse Sam Ingram has been working on ward 33 at the hospital since the beginning of December, and said she has found the ward is running low on toiletries and other personal essentials for the patients.
Normally the ward holds an annual pub quiz to buy toiletries and relies on relatives dropping things off for the patients, but because of the coronavirus outbreak neither is possible this year.
Instead Sam, who also works as an aesthetics nurse, is raffling off a lip filler treatment to raise the money the ward needs.
She said: “I am a bank nurse so although I am not employed by ward 33 I have done a few shifts for them recently.
“The ward is amazing, the patients and staff are so lovely.
“I went to wash a female patient one day and I couldn’t find any female shower gel and that’s when the charge nurse told me they normally do a pub quiz to raise money for toiletries but because of Covid they can’t this year.
“Relatives also normally drop stuff off when they come to visit but because there is no visiting at the moment you run out of things very quickly.
“And it is nice to have something you would use at home, so a man for example would want to use Lynx rather than a bar of flowery soap.
“When the charge nurse said that to me I felt very sad for the patients because basic things like shower gel, deodorant and toothpaste are little home comforts for them.
“The patients in the stroke unit are recovering from a stroke so it is sometimes difficult for them to communicate with us so I just want to provide them with as many options as possible.
“I love seeing them recovering from not being able to communicate when you first meet them to getting them up and walking around and becoming themselves again.”
Sam is now running her fundraising raffle on Facebook and Instagram, and is asking people to buy a ticket for £5.
She added: “I am also an aesthetics nurse and I have my own clinic where I do botox and fillers.
“It will be £5 a ticket and the person who wins will win a new set of lips – although they could use it somewhere else in the face if they are not interested in that.
“All of the money raised will go to ward 33 to buy toiletries and I hope there will be a little bit leftover for the ward to use as they see fit for the patients.
“I only started in the stroke unit at the beginning of December because I usually work in cardiology.
“It can sometimes be hard to get into a new team every time you come into work but one day I was sent to ward 33 and I have never left, they can’t get rid of me.
“The team there is so welcoming and their standards of care is phenomenal so I am delighted to be part of it.”
