Rural care highlighted by charity presentations

CLIC Sargent, the children’s cancer charity; Marie Curie Cancer Care and MND Scotland, who help those affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND), have shared SAMW’s 2011 charity donations totalling £5000.

Funds, collected each year during the Association’s annual conference and dinner, are traditionally presented to three different charities, chosen by the Association’s members.   All three of this year’s charities have a strong rural care element, very much in keeping with the rural locations of many of SAMW’s member companies.

“One of the key parts of our work is to provide parents with somewhere to stay close to their children during what can be a lengthy treatment process,” said Richard Donald, Fundraising Manager for CLIC Sargent.

“This is particularly important for rural families who are located some way from central Scotland where most treatments take place.  We’re currently establishing new accommodation options in Glasgow, in fact, due to a re-location of the city’s treatment centre. SAMW’s donation is a timely addition to our fund raising effort for this part of our programme.”

Rural support is also an important aspect of the work carried out by Marie Curie Cancer Care, whose core objectives include the desire to help people, who are approaching the end of their lives, to remain at home if they so wish.

“Working in partnership with NHS Grampian, we recently launched a new out-of-hours nursing service for Aberdeenshire and Moray, specifically to deliver nursing care for patients in their own homes,” said Fiona Bushby, Community Fundraiser for Marie Curie Cancer Care.   “It’s highly appropriate that the donation from SAMW has come at a time when the new Aberdeenshire and Moray service is at such an early stage.”

MND Scotland Chief Executive, Craig Stockton, also mentioned his organisation’s community-based service when accepting the SAMW donation.

“Our five-person care team covers the whole of Scotland, including the islands, visiting those affected by MND in their homes with the aim of trying to ensure that people receive the care they and their families need,” he said. “Our newest member of staff joined us just this month, in fact, specifically to cover the North of Scotland, providing welfare and benefit support to people in the most rural parts of the country.”