Joyce’s Furlough Challenge

Flattening my curves for PPE

From this Monday – 27 April 2020 – I will be in the first rotation of staff to be furloughed for 3 weeks as part of an essential cost-saving exercise by The Fed.

Times simply couldn’t be harder for us. Financially and emotionally. So I want to turn my leave of absence into a positive opportunity.

High up amongst our many challenges is the daily struggle to equip our Heathlands Village staff with enough PPE (personal protective equipment). Donations of gloves, masks, visors, aprons, hand sanitiser and coveralls are desperately needed – or the money to purchase these. Correct PPE is literally life-saving – for the vulnerable people we care for; for my wonderful colleagues who look after them, and the loved ones they go home to.

And, in case you didn’t know, my own mum, Marlene, at just turned 87, has been a resident since March last year and is currently recovering, thank G-d, from Covid-19, in the loving care of the fantastic team at the home’s Wolfson Unit.

We are currently using 12,250 pairs of gloves a week, the same number of aprons, 6,250 masks and 1,050 full gowns – the expense is phenomenal – £5,000 per week! It is draining the pot dry.

That’s why I’ve set myself this furlough challenge.  Over my coming leave of absence, with your help, I aim to flatten my curves by losing fourteen pounds on furlough. I’m too ashamed to reveal my weight to you so I need you to trust me! But I will post photos before, during and at the end of my challenge as evidence of my success with details of losses along the way.

As a pre-diabetic, over the last few months, I’ve been taking part in a wonderful NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (Living Well – Taking Control). But I don’t think till now I’ve been taking it seriously enough. I need your encouragement, advice and financial support to put what I’ve been learning into practice, improve my health and reach a target of £5,000 to help buy a week’s PPE for Heathlands Village.

Normally at this time of year supporters are raising money for The Fed through different community challenges – marathons; 10k runs; sky-dives; bike-rides – but these have been cancelled left, right and centre. We stand to lose tens of thousands of pounds of expected income so setting ‘alternative’ challenges like this is crucial.

Believe me – this is going to test me HARD! 

Far from a piece of cake – quite literally. 

I’ll be going low carb and upping my exercise from my usual 30 mins a day – please give me the support I need – for my sake – but more so – for all the people who need our care and the heroes delivering it.