05 Aug 20. Radiographers' charity race

Edinburgh Imaging ​Facility RIE radiographers have a story to tell! 

 

"COVID 19 has seen us reach to places deep inside to find the positive in what has undoubtedly been a very difficult time for everyone. We have changed a lot as the weeks have rolled on by & these are the things we have done to keep us going (quite literally)!

 

In April, we put the majority of our research work on the back burner & car​ried on delivering the acute ​Neurovascular Stroke Imaging (NVSI) service for the Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) / stroke outpatient clinics. This required us to establish ‘a new normal’ at the scanner a PPE & deep cleaning regime that Aggie & Kim would be proud of.

We also adapted to home working, which included performing complex image analysis for research projects, introducing a whole host of technical issues to overcome. 

In May we upped our workload to make inroads into the backlogged NHS imaging & to maximize activity on our scanner.

May ignited a spark inside us & we all individually completed our own versions of ‘The 2.6 Challenge’ raising money for UK Charities. 

In June, we were inspired to raise money as a team & we said hello to the ‘DARED – Do A Run Every Day’ challenge, which supports local Edinburgh Charity Circle.

We'd unleashed a monster! We were already looking for our next monthly charitable challenge before we'd finished the last one! So here we are, we have blinked:

In July we supported our new neighbours across the carpark at the Royal Hospital for Children & Young People.

We took the Lap the Map challenge for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) & challenged Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity in a unique fundraising challenge - a virtual foot-race covering the entire Scottish coastline (all 10,007km of it).

 

Looking back at the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we see we have accomplished a lot: 

• Acquired new scanning skills
• Started new COVID 19 research & 
• Returned to our previous job roles scanning NHS patients
• Worked at our other MR imaging facility - the EIF QMRI
• Adapted our own MR facility - the EIF RIE to new restrictions imposed by COVID-19
• Guided others to new working patterns as they come back into the imaging fold

 

It hasn’t always been easy, we know that first hand, but I think I can speak for the team when I say that by having these challenges to push us outside of work, we have been pushed in the right direction.

We come in early to get some miles in, we lap the hospital grounds when the busy day lets us & we go out at night even after a hard day, or week, or sometimes month.

 

So we are asking you to support us! Please help us make a difference by donating to our Just Giving team page. 

 

If you know us personally you will know we all really appreciate any donation big or small. If you don’t know us, then you are missing out & should come by (at a social distance), at a suitable time, booked into our diary, because we are, quite frankly, a cracking bunch!"

- Written by Isla Mitchell, MR Research Radiographer at the EIF RIE

 

Edinburgh Imaging would like to say a huge well done to the Edinburgh Imaging Facility RIE radiographers for their continuing hard work and dedication during these difficult times, and for all their efforts in particpating in challenges to raise money for local charities - we wish you all the best for Lap the Map!