A children’s hospice staff member has joined a new scheme to become the charity’s first nurse associate. Charlotte Tindall, 30, was awarded a place on the Julie Atherton children’s nurse scholarship scheme thanks to her work with Derian House Children’s Hospice. The scheme, launched in 2018 to help tackle the national nursing shortage, was named after the hospice’s much loved former clinical director and trains a new nurse every year, with Ms Tindall the first from Derian House itself. Ms Tindall, of Blackburn, said: “I feel really motivated to succeed on my course to uphold Derian’s outstanding reputation and to make us the best we can possibly be.
Brenda Davies Tributes have been paid to Brenda Davies of Lostock, who passed away at the Royal Bolton Hospital on January 14 at the age of 83. Brenda was the wife of the late James (Jim) Davies, and a very much-loved mother to her sons Stephen and Michael. Born and raised in Westhoughton, Brenda moved to Lostock not long after the birth of her second child. She was a nurse for the entirety of her working life, caring for people at both the Bolton Royal Infirmary, as it was then called, and the former Townley’s Hospital. She later turned to industrial nursing, and spent several years working as an on-site nurse stationed at the Victoria Mill in Horwich.
THE mother of an eight-year-old boy who died following a lengthy battle with a brain tumour has paid tribute to him. Baran Akarca died at Derian House Children’s Hospice, having had the rare cancer since he was just two-years-old. He lived in the Morris Green area with mum Annabel, dad Gerrard and two-year-old sister Leyla. Annabel said that despite his condition and disability “he always had a smile on his face”, which helped “give strength to those around him.” She said: “He was diagnosed with the brain tumour just before he was two-years-old, and had treatment in Turkey for a while before we came back to the UK to seek a second opinion.
A bank has donated over £10,000 to the Greater Manchester Hospice Group to keep families connected during lockdown. The donation has been praised by the chief executive of Bolton Hospice who has said this is a priceless gift for families separated by lockdown. The Greater Manchester Hospice Group have made their best efforts to facilitate video calling between inpatients and their families throughout the pandemic, however, not all family members have access to a proper device for this. This may mean that those without a smartphone or tablet will not have been able to see their relative for months while face to face contact has been banned due to coronavirus restrictions.