Pictured above: Rob Styles, Practice Manager at
Robinsons Solicitors, hands over the firm's donation of £337
to Sophie Jardine, Fundraising Volunteer Manager for the BHF
in Derbyshire
Lawyers at a Derby firm have turned their seasons' greetings
into the gift of life for heart patients after making a donation
towards a fund to buy vital equipment.
Staff at Robinsons Solicitors, in St James Court, Friar Gate,
handed over a cheque for £337 to the British Heart
Foundation's Heart of Derby appeal, which is aiming to raise
£107,000 to buy a 3D echocardiograph machine.
The machine, which will be used by the Derby Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust, emits a pulse of high frequency sound into a
patient's chest and records the pattern of the echoes which
return.
These patterns are used to create an accurate 3D image of the
structure of their heart, giving doctors priceless information with
which to make their diagnosis.
The money is the result of Robinsons' annual Christmas
fund-raising campaign, where staff forego sending Christmas cards
and make a donation to a charity of their choice instead.
The firm has donated £6,100 to charities over the years,
and managing principal Neil Barnes said everyone at Robinsons
wanted to help the Heart of Derby appeal this time round.
He added: "Every year we choose a different charity and, when
our staff heard about the Heart of Derby Appeal, they wanted to
show their support.
"Heart disease is a major cause of concern in the UK, so we are
delighted to make this donation and wish the BHF the very best in
raising the money it needs."
Sophie Jardine, Fundraising Volunteer Manager for the BHF in
Derbyshire, said: "I would like to thank Robinsons Solicitors for
this wonderful donation to the Heart of Derby Appeal. The appeal
has raised just over £70,000 now and it is only with generous
donations like this one, that we are ever closer to reaching our
target.
"Sadly heart disease remains the UK's biggest killer. Every six
minutes someone dies from a heart attack and heart and circulatory
disease claims around 200,000 lives a year.
"The 3D Echocardiograph machine in Derby will help doctors to
treat thousands of heart patients in Derby and we can continue our
fight against heart disease."