Meet the knights in shining leathers!
A BATLEY man is helping to start an emergency voluntary service delivering life saving packages to hospitals.
Vic Donaldson answered an advert in an Institute of Advanced Motorists newsletter asking for people to help run a new charity.
The message was from Vic Siswick, chairman of WhiteKnights, an organisation which is hoping to provide an out-of-hours motorcycle courier service to hospitals in West Yorkshire.
The volunteer couriers would transport blood, test samples, patient notes, x-rays, drugs and other medical supplies between hospitals. Vice-chairman Vic Donaldson, of Farfield Avenue, said: “Currently the NHS has no infrastructure to do this so they use taxis and couriers, which is costly, and if you imagine requiring life-saving blood on a busy Friday night and no taxi’s available or rush hour traffic.”
WhiteKnights is looking to mirror well-established services already operating in the south of England called Freewheelers and Serv.
It would be the first of its kind in Yorkshire.
Former news cameraman Vic Siswick, decided to set up the charity after his own health problems meant he was in great need of NHS services. He said: “Four years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. They took me to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, I was operated on for 10 hours, and then they found a tumour. I had six months chemo and then came out with pleurisy. They took me into Jimmy’s for a 12-hour operation to remove the tumour from my pancreas.
“I came out of that ok. Now I’m on the road to recovery and I thought ‘what can I do to give something back?’
“I can’t work because I can’t lift anything. Then by accident I came across the Freewheelers website and I thought ‘wow, this is really what I wanted to do’. I can use my bike and it’s out-of-hours.”
Vic has received a lot of help and support from both Freewheelers and Serv to get his new organisation off the ground.
He now has a committee and is hoping to have 30 riders working in shifts with two bikes to serve West Yorkshire’s hospitals.
Vic, 61, said the costs of setting up such a service within the NHS would be prohibitive.
He said: “It will be of terrific benefit to the NHS. We are hoping the savings will be up to quarter of a million.”
The charity should be up and running by April and the two Vics are looking for sponsorship and donations.
Vic Donaldson said: “It will cost in the region of 5,000 to maintain one motorbike for one year, but save the NHS 12 times this figure.
“The two bikes are coming from an ex-policeman who is selling them for 2,000 each, which we thought was very reasonable.
“We got the money to pay for them through people we know but we really need more funding for liability insurance, maintenance and clothing for the riders.
“The people who are involved are all mature professional people. Riders must be over 25, with advanced motoring skills.”
Apart from the financial benefits to the NHS, WhiteKnights will also benefit the people on the receiving end of the service. Vic Siswick said: “I would not presume to say I have saved a life but I would get a very warm feeling that I’d made a difference.”
To get involved or make a donation email Vic Siswick at whiteknightsevs@googlemail.com or Vic Donaldson at whiteknightsevs@aol.com.
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Weather for Batley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
