An eye surgeon based at Derry's Alnagelvin Hospital is to cycle the length of Ireland next month as part of a fundraising project which will see the Western Health and Social Care Trust linking with a hospital in Africa.
Dr Rosie Brennan will be joined by colleagues, Chris Devlin of site management at Altnagelvin Hospital and Patrick McGirr, a ward manager in the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen for the six-day marathon cycle challenge.
The Western Trust trio will s
et off from Mizen Head in County Cork on Monday, 7 September, with the aim of arriving at Malin Head on Saturday, 12 September.
A consultant ophthalmic surgeon who works in the Trust's Altnagelvin and Erne Hospitals, Dr Brennan said she doesn't expect the trek from Mizen to Malin to be easy but is hoping the serious training she's put in, will prepare her for the challenge. The cyclists will be covering approximately 80 miles each day and will be joined by other cyclists for the final 20 mile dash to Malin on 12 September.
Dr Brennan said she was pleased to be able to combine her love for cycling with the fundraising effort for the link the Trust is planning with an African hospital.
"The Western Trust paediatric eye department is developing a teaching link with the ECWA Eye Hospital in Kano, Nigeria," said Dr Brennan. "This link will help to train a paediatric ophthalmologist, train nurses to assess children's vision and develop a new children's eye ward in the Nigerian hospital. This is towards the VISION 2020 Links programme, an internationally driven goal of improving vision globally and eliminating avoidable blindness by 2020. The link is supported and driven by the International Centre for Eye Health.
"I will be travelling to Kano in late September with a small number of colleagues as part of the process of developing the link with ECWA Eye Hospital. The purpose of this visit to is to meet medical and nursing staff in the hospital to find out how we in the Western Trust's paediatric eye department can share our skills to best effect for the community the hospital serves. This will be followed up by a return visit of hospital staff from Kano to the Western Trust in late autumn."
The charity cycle is one of a number of fundraising activities being undertaken to support the development of the link with the hospital in Nigeria. Rosie, Chris and Patrick will not only be seeking moral support for their cycle challenge but are hoping that people will come forward with sponsorship.
Donations for VISION 2020 can be made at the cash offices in the Altnagelvin, Erne and Tyrone County Hospitals. Please advise the cash office staff that the donation is for the VISION 2020 project.
Further information on the fundraising effort can also be obtained by visiting:
www.vision2020kano.org