Addressed without any elaboration to a single name, an envelope was received this past March by the Mablethorpe Christian Fellowship. The Fellowship had replaced the offices of the Alford District Nurses on 97 Victoria Road over six years ago, before the team amalgamated and moved to Marisco. The contents of the envelope included £540 in £20 notes and an unsigned letter to "the District Nurses" which read: "I hope this donation will help towards more equipment in your good work."
Thanks to the power of Facebook and the diligence of the Fellowship's leader Nigel Collins, the name on the envelope was discovered to be a District Nurse who had served with the Alford and Mablethorpe District Nursing Team prior to the move. "That was all we had to go on - the name on the envelope and that note," said Nigel. "We discussed the letter at a Trustees meeting, when someone brought up the idea of using Facebook to track down the nurse.
Our Facebook search brought up her name and we were able to message her and get a return before the meeting was finished - that's the power of Facebook for you." "The District Nursing Team and I are keen to have this story published, by way of offering a very heartfelt 'Thank You' to the very generous donor," added Kerry Bareham, Clinical Team Lead for LCHS. "We would also like to thank Nigel and everyone at Mablethorpe Christian Fellowship for their tenacity in ensuring we received the donation. It really was a lovely surprise and very touching."
Donations to Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust's Charitable Funds are allocated towards promoting patient comfort and care by providing materials and equipment used by nurses; such as bags to carry equipment, plastic boxes with lids to hold medications and equipment for palliative care patients. Funds are also put towards training and education, which again benefit patient care.