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New emergency chair gives residents a lift
A donation for a potentially life-saving emergency lifting chair has been warmly welcomed by residents at a Burntisland retirement housing complex.
Pictured with the emergency lifting chair are, from left: Cllr Julie MacDougall; Toby Hamblin, Plant Manager at FEP; Jean Bullion and Marion McGregor.
The Raizer 2 Emergency Lifting Chair helps to safely lift casualties to a sitting or standing position after a fall or trip, and it will help other residents at the St Andrews Court development to avoid the risk of injury when they come to someone’s aid.
The cost of buying the chair has been met by ExxonMobil at Fife Ethylene Plant after a request for help from local councillor Julie MacDougall, who heard of the residents’ need.
St Andrew’s Court, situated on the town’s main street, is privately run by the Trust Housing Association. It has 19 flats, housing residents with various levels of health issues, some of whom are single and have no families.
Before Covid struck, the complex’s tenants group held regular fundraising events such as coffee mornings to raise money for additional social events and equipment, but it has been unable to do so over the past few years.
When Councillor MacDougall heard of the need for an automatic lifting chair, she suggested they contact Fife Ethylene Plant for assistance and helped them to apply for funding.
She said: “I am on the Mossmorran Community Engagement Committee and knew that FEP was able to make donations to worthy local causes. I also work closely with the tenants group here and I knew they were struggling to find funding, so I helped them with the process.
“I am delighted that we were able to work together to get this life-saving piece of equipment which will make such a difference to them by just knowing that it is there if they should ever need it.”
Marion McGregor, chairperson of the St Andrews Court Tenants Association, added: “We can’t thank Fife Ethylene Plant enough for this very generous donation which will enable us to provide even better care for our residents.
“Until now myself and Jean Bullion, who are fully-trained first aiders, were often being called on to help people who had fallen over, but we are both in our 70s ourselves and we were putting our own health at risk, so this is going to make a huge difference.”
Toby Hamblin, Plant Manager at FEP, said: “Safety is a big part of our everyday work at Fife Ethylene Plant, so we are only too happy to help provide this much needed piece of equipment which we hope will provide extra peace of mind for the dedicated staff and residents here.”