York’s student nurses have been raising money to pay for sending equipment and textbooks 
to their counterparts in India in a shipping crate. Their aim is to help improve training for student nurses and to help provide free healthcare to some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in rural areas.
The effort, spearheaded by NurSoc, has involved a variety of different fundraising events ranging from traditional events such as quizzes, cake stalls and a craft fair to the more unorthodox, such as a sponsored bungee jump in the dark.
The impetus for the fundraising came from Anne Philips, a senior lecturer in the department of Health Sciences who visited M.A Chidambaram College in Chennai India earlier in the year. She was shocked at the lack of resources available to teach student nurses and subsequently NurSoc began the fundraising campaign to transport over equipment and teaching resources. The M.A Chidambaram college also works with a voluntary local hospital that provides free healthcare to some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in rural areas.
The effort aims to raise enough money to send a shipping crate to the College. The equipment includes hospital beds, resuscitation manikins, textbooks and other teaching aids. The recent refurbishment of the Clinical Simulation Unit (CSU) at the Department of Health Sciences at University has freed up a large amount of redundant equipment, rather than throw it away they decided to put it to good use by giving them a new life helping to train student nurses in India.
Head of Department Professor Hillary Graham said “Resources- in education and in healthcare as in all areas of our lives needs to be used in sustainable ways, if we are to protect our planet for our children and grandchildren. So through the combined efforts of NurSoc and health sciences staff, the sea container will ensure valuable teaching resources are not wasted, but instead made available to support other nursing students.”
The Container is due to arrive at 9am on the 30th of July where it will be packed by nursing students and shipped to India.
If you would like to support the project, they still need donations. Please contact: [email protected]