Seven staff members from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust recently took the leap and to the skies to jump 10,000ft and 15,000ft to support The Royal Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Hospitals. 

Taking on the once in a lifetime experience at GoSkydive in Salisbury was Ali Whyte, Molly Lopez, Rachel Gregory, Kim Davis, Fiona Sowerby, Amira Al-Bittar and Charlotte Pontin-Thomas.

This super seven had individual motivations to take on this courageous challenge and decided to fundraise for a mixture of areas within University Hospitals Dorset.

First up was Ali Whyte who works within the eye department at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital and was keen to support the Eye Sim Appeal for a revolutionary simulator for eye surgery to help train the new generation of eye surgeons across Wessex and Dorset.

Molly Lopez is a nurse for Ward 15 at Bournemouth Hospital and took to the skies to raise funds for a new pull-out bed for relatives who are visiting loved ones who are receiving palliative care. These patients need their families, and their families need comfort during such a precious time which is something Moly is especially keen to support.

Molly says: “Our patients go through a lot during their last days of life, and we would like to provide families with a comfortable place to rest during this time with a loved one. This will make this challenging time just that little bit easier.”

Thirdly, Rachel Gregory who works as an Assistant Medical Equipment Co-ordinator braved the 15,000ft jump to support all three hospitals, NHS staff and their patients. Rachel says: “I always wanted to do a skydive so when I saw the charity skydive advertised, my thoughts were its now or never. I am so grateful for all the sponsorship people have given me. There is so many departments in need of different things. I am so pleased I can show my support.”

Joining Rachel was Kim Davis and Fiona Sowerby who work in Finance for the Trust who were keen to leap into action to support their hospitals while ticking off a personal passion on their bucket list.

Not stopping there, Amira Al-Bittar who works as a Medical Laboratory Assistant in the Microbiology department followed in her flight from a Cessna Super Cargomaster – the fastest tandem skydiving aircraft in the UK to raise funds to support her colleagues in the Pathology and Microbiology department.

Last by no means least is Charlotte Pontin-Thomas who is one of PAs to the fantastic cancer care team at Poole Hospital has fundraised her way through cycl-athons and cake sales to raise funds to support the Cancer Care Unit.

Go team!