Poole Hospital staff have decided to donate their prize from a recent local fitness competition to the hospital’s children’s unit.
.Staff from the pathology department gifted £200 of sports and fitness vouchers to the children’s unit’s play and physiotherapist team who used them to purchase a cross trainer.
The new machine will be used to help encourage younger patients to stay active while undergoing treatment or rehabilitation.
The pathology department won the vouchers after coming second in Beat the Street, a fun and free game where teams compete to travel as far as possible in a set time.
Points are scored by walking, cycling, scooting or running from point to point and tapping a card on sensors called ‘Beat Boxes’, which are placed on lamp posts.
The Poole and Purbeck version of the game took is funded by Public Health Dorset and took place over a six-week period in October and November. More than 10,500 people took part travelling a total of 67,272 miles.
The department’s 16-person team covered a total of 856 miles and the team members undertook different methods to increase the points tally. Jo Hill-Cousins, pathology PA, turned her dog walks into runs while Andy Barber, acting laboratory manager, microbiology, cycled 24 miles in a single journey to accumulate as many points as he could. Dani Greenslade, pathology PA, completed five kilometre runs on her lunch breaks.
Tori Williams, acute paediatric physiotherapy team lead, was very thankful for the kind contribution. “Thank you so much to everyone in pathology for this donation,” said Tori.
“We are extremely grateful and are so excited to have a new cross trainer which all of our younger patients will be able to use to provide some fun and enjoyment and aid in rehabilitation while in the unit.”
