David (Dave) Jarrett, a tireless fundraiser, craftsman, educator, father, husband, grandfather and much more was stricken down with cancer, signet ring adenocarcinoma to be precise, in the summer of 2013
The battle that Dave fought was brave, but short, during which time, many obstacles and difficulties were faced. In the last few days of his life, he needed one of these magic machines to control his pain, but there was not one available (to read the full story, click here). He had to wait 24 hours, which may not seem long, but when someone you love is in pain, 60 seconds is a minute too long...
In short, he had to wait for someone to die before he got one. After hours of research, we found out there were only 2 of these drivers that service Whittlesey, Eye, Thorney and Stanground... 2 which covers a population of over 21,000 people (2009 census figures for Whittlesey, Eye and Thorney).
With more people being diagnosed with cancer, 2 is nowhere near enough. These are essential tools that provide pain relief for palliative care, and they should be available to everyone when needed. When you are in need, you just shouldn't have to wait. Syringe drivers are not just used by cancer patients but also Alzheimer’s patients and anyone in need at the end of their life, they administer pain relief as well as anti-sickness and other drugs that are needed.
The syringe drivers originally cost nearly £1400 each (see our quote).
So in short, a we joined forces to undertake a series of fundraising activities to raise money to provide at least one new driver every year for the local areas.
We successfully delivered our first syringe driver to the Whittlesey community nurses in October 2015.
Since we began fundraising we have been made aware of the shortage of these machines. 33 surgeries across the Greater Peterborough area (which includes Whittlesey) were sharing just 19 machines. Less than one per surgery. Through fundraising and generous donations we are increasing these numbers and now receive many letters from families whose loved ones have been helped.
After the nurses seeing the difference we are making in the this area we have been asked if we can help our Fenland neighbours who are currently sharing 27 machines in 17 surgeries.
For the future we hope to continue to increase the numbers available in the Greater Peterborough area and help Fenland to increase their syringe drivers too. These machines have an average life of 7 years and will help many people during that time going from patient to patient.
60 seconds is a minute too long
The battle that Dave fought was brave, but short, during which time, many obstacles and difficulties were faced. In the last few days of his life, he needed one of these magic machines to control his pain, but there was not one available (to read the full story, click here). He had to wait 24 hours, which may not seem long, but when someone you love is in pain, 60 seconds is a minute too long...
In short, he had to wait for someone to die before he got one. After hours of research, we found out there were only 2 of these drivers that service Whittlesey, Eye, Thorney and Stanground... 2 which covers a population of over 21,000 people (2009 census figures for Whittlesey, Eye and Thorney).
With more people being diagnosed with cancer, 2 is nowhere near enough. These are essential tools that provide pain relief for palliative care, and they should be available to everyone when needed. When you are in need, you just shouldn't have to wait. Syringe drivers are not just used by cancer patients but also Alzheimer’s patients and anyone in need at the end of their life, they administer pain relief as well as anti-sickness and other drugs that are needed.
The syringe drivers originally cost nearly £1400 each (see our quote).
So in short, a we joined forces to undertake a series of fundraising activities to raise money to provide at least one new driver every year for the local areas.
We successfully delivered our first syringe driver to the Whittlesey community nurses in October 2015.
Since we began fundraising we have been made aware of the shortage of these machines. 33 surgeries across the Greater Peterborough area (which includes Whittlesey) were sharing just 19 machines. Less than one per surgery. Through fundraising and generous donations we are increasing these numbers and now receive many letters from families whose loved ones have been helped.
After the nurses seeing the difference we are making in the this area we have been asked if we can help our Fenland neighbours who are currently sharing 27 machines in 17 surgeries.
For the future we hope to continue to increase the numbers available in the Greater Peterborough area and help Fenland to increase their syringe drivers too. These machines have an average life of 7 years and will help many people during that time going from patient to patient.
60 seconds is a minute too long
All these surgeries and the commuities they cover were initially sharing just 19 syringe drivers..
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