A trainee nurse is skydiving to raise money for the James Paget Hospital, despite being “absolutely petrified of heights”.
Isabelle Brown, 19, from Gorleston, is a sponsored trainee nurse and healthcare assistant at the JPH - but has been volunteering with the hospital since she was just 16.
Working predominantly in the hospital’s “green zone”, which means dealing with non-Covid patients, Ms Brown has seen the impact of the coronavirus crisis on her colleagues’ mental and physical health.
She said: “I wanted to raise money to be donated to the staff at three wards in particular: the intensive care unit, the Covid ward and the ‘yellow A&E’, because they’re working so desperately hard right now.
“I think this money will really help them.”
The JPH’s ‘yellow A&E’ is a new emergency department dedicated specifically to patients showing symptoms of coronavirus.
According to Ms Brown, she had only expected to raise £500 for her proposed skydive - but donations have nearly passed the £1.6k mark.
She said: “I’ve got the date for my skydive booked in provisionally for June 17th. That probably won’t happen, but I will give the money to the hospital in advance and then make sure I do my skydive as soon as this is all over.
“They will be able to use it to buy whatever they need most.”
Explaining her decision to do a skydive, Ms Brown explained that it is because she is “terrified of heights”.
She said: “If my friends and medical staff across the country can push themselves to their limit to deal with this pandemic, then I should be able to push myself too.”
Ms Brown added that while morale at the JPH is very high, there was definitely a lot of stress and tension among staff.“There’s not enough protective equipment and people are having to work extremely long shifts”, she said.
“It’s like we’re waiting for a volcano to explode.”It will take Ms Brown three years to become a fully-qualified nurse, but she says her experience during the pandemic has made her more eager to complete her training than ever before.
She said: “Previously, nurses were just always there, just people in the background. But now the public is starting to respect them and show them the appreciation they deserve.”
You can donate to Ms Brown by clicking this link.
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