Finance firm pledges support for Dr Ted

A business owner with a flair for figures has pledged to spend the next year raising funds for the Rotherham Hospital and Community Charity’s Dr Ted children’s appeal.

August 2019 marks the first anniversary for Jamie Baggaley’s Waverley-based financial consultancy firm, J & J Commercial Finance, and to celebrate the milestone Jamie will be teaming up with Dr Ted for a year of fundraising.

Jamie, 34, was inspired to support the charity’s children’s appeal after his son Jacob was cared for on the Special Care Baby Unit at Rotherham Hospital.

Jamie said: “As any new business owner will know, the first year can be rewarding but tough. So to celebrate my business reaching that first important milestone I wanted to do something which celebrated a charity which is close to my family’s heart.

“Jacob is now a healthy and happy two-and-a-half year old but he spent the first few weeks of his life on the Special Care Baby Unit after he suffered a chest infection and jaundice. It was a really worrying time for my wife Gemma and I but for two weeks we were able to stay in one of family rooms on SCBU. It meant the world to us to be there together and helped us to bond as a family.

“I couldn’t think of a better way of celebrating a year in business than fundraising for the charity’s Dr Ted children’s appeal. I’m sure it will be a fun way of uniting the clients and partners I work with in Rotherham. A lot of great things go on in our town and I’d like to showcase that with our fundraising.”

Jamie will kick start his year of fundraising with a networking breakfast event at the Mercure Hotel in Sheffield on Tuesday 8 October. Tickets for the event cost £15, which includes a donation to Dr Ted.

The Dr Ted children’s appeal raises money to fund everything from toys to specialist medical equipment and resources to help ensure the youngest patients cared for by The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust have the best experience of being in hospital as possible.

The appeal has raised £81,882.03 since it was set up in April 2012 with funding helping to provide:

• Games and sensory toys for the Children’s Ward, Children’s Outpatients and the Urgent and Emergency Care Centre
• A Dr Ted mascot outfit
• Mural artwork for the Special Care Baby Unit and Children’s Outpatients departments
• Colourful, child friendly wheelchairs
• A magician to entertain a magician on the Children’s Ward
• A child-friendly quiet saw to help remove plaster casts from broken bones
• Specialist sleep apnoea monitors for new-borns on the Special Care Baby Unit

Barry Mellor, Chair of the Charitable Funds Committee, said: “We are so proud to have amazing fundraisers like Jamie who nominate us as their charity of the year. Jamie’s experience of staying in the family rooms on SCBU, which were funded by the charity and corporate sponsors like Fortem, is a poignant reminder about the impact donations can have on our hospital environment.

“All the money raised by Jamie will help us to make a real difference to the patients we care for in the community and at Rotherham Hospital and I’m sure they will inspire others to fundraise for the charity in future. We’re looking forward to working with him in the coming year.”

For more information about the Rotherham Hospital and Community Charity please contact Suzanne Rutter on 01709 426821 or via [email protected].