Help
Falkland’s War Hero Supports Fire Fighters Charity
| Published: 19th August 2010 22:57 |
The Fire Fighters Charity is piloting a new helpline, which it hopes will benefit hundreds of burn survivors.
The 12 month pilot has been launched in five major burn specialist hospitals from early August and is being endorsed by Falkland's War Hero and friend of the Charity - Simon Weston (pictured).
The Charity will offer a free confidential and impartial helpline service providing free advice, guidance and support on a wide range of issues, providing assistance to those who have suffered a burn-related injury.
The helpline will be manned by experienced advisors at The Charity's head office in Basingstoke, who already operate a successful helpline accessible to fire fighters, fire personnel and their families. As well as signposting callers to various organisations that can provide further assistance, the advisors cover a number of issues including those relating to employment, grants and statuary funding, health, social care, welfare, education, advocacy and welfare benefits.
Simon Weston said, "I'm delighted to support and be at the forefront of this campaign. The Fire Fighters Charity found that welfare support varied from region to region and a national service of this type did not exist. Therefore access to this helpline will be a welcome addition for burn consultants and patients alike."
Those involved in the pilot scheme are Whiston Hospital in Merseyside, Wythenshaw Hospital in Manchester, Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Odstock Hospital in Salisbury and Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
In order to evaluate what impact the campaign has on those involved, The Fire Fighters Charity will be measuring the pilot throughout, with the view to rolling it out to the rest of the nation's burn units in 2011.
Burn practitioners will initially be responsible for promoting the service to their patients and will be provided with information leaflets and a promotional key ring, which they will distribute to patients in order to provide them with a greater understanding of the service available to them.
The helpline is free to access and initially lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am- 5pm.
The Fire Fighters Charity supports injured fire fighters and has three UK centres, located in Cumbria, Devon and West Sussex, which offer varying combinations of therapy and recuperation services.
More information about the charity can be found at www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/
Report this article as inappropriate
Comments
You need to log in before you can do that! It's only a quick registration process to join the AMA network and completely free.
Loading...
Help