Streetwise Magazine, Milnrow & Newhey, March 2014 | Page 39

HEALTH AID UK
On April 24th Anne McNicholas, a Rochdale
nurse, will fly to Ethiopia to join a team of
International Surgeons who will operate on
around forty patients with complex facial
deformities.
The surgeons are all experts in
facial surgery and plastic surgery
(not to be confused with creating
designer bodies!). No, these plastic
surgeons concentrate on covering
holes in faces, taking bone and
skin grafts from ribs and thighs to
replace tissue lost to disease,
trauma or birth deformities.
During the year, babies with cleft
palates will be operated on by the
local staff. The complex cases
being held back for this team to
arrive, the lead surgeon is Prof
Mark McQuirk, Mark and some of
his team work in Guy’s and St
Thomas hospital in London. As
Anne is the only nurse from the
North she no doubt gets some
stick, but this year it is hoped that
another nurse who works with
Anne in Oldham A & E Dept may
also go. Health Aid UK supports
this project and collect various
items for Anne to take with her.
Football shirts in all sizes go down

well, NEW boxer shorts (medium
and small sizes), NEW underwear
for women and children are also
needed. As many of the patients
have difficulty eating, supplying
the right food before and after
surgery is crucial to their recovery.
Every two days the following
items are purchased; more than 20
kilos of bananas, peanut butter,
powdered milk, eggs, mangos,
oranges and fresh bread. The food
supplements the three meals a
day made by the hospital kitchen!
The relationship between the
patients is incredible and it is so
humbling to see how much trust
they put in us, they may not
understand the language and
most don’t BUT they comply with
all the investigations, X Rays, CT
Scans etc. that are needed. After
surgery they are so brave. Anne
said that if she needed the
dramatic surgery these patients
had she would want to have a
morphine drip for at least a week!
Paracetamol seems OK for most
with some needing tramadol once
or twice a day. All the team have to
cover their own costs, which are
set at £1000. So Anne is fundraising now to cover her costs. Any
donation, however small, is
appreciated.

Health Aid UK
32 The Strand, Kirkholt,
Rochdale OL11 2JG