Charitable donation

26 May 2009

The Special Care Baby Unit at Taunton’s Musgrove Park hospital, which looks after premature babies, has received a £1,000 donation from Branston. The company made the donation after two of its team experienced life on the ward first hand.

Pei and Guangbin Li’s son, Jason Lee, was born ten weeks premature and spent two months being cared for by the ward. With Jason safely home, the couple proposed that the ward was considered for a donation from Branston’s charity fund.

“When Jason was born we were really surprised and worried as he only weighed two lb three oz, but the doctors and nurses on the ward were amazing and looked after him and us incredibly well,” said Pei. “We were so grateful for the loving care they provided that when we returned home, I put the award forward to our charity panel, which decided to donate £1,000 so that the hospital could buy some new equipment.”

Ian Wait, General Manager of Branston’s Seavington St Michael site, added: “As a company we are really keen to give something back to the community. We set up our fund for charities to enable our team to propose good causes, which we could help. The Special Care Baby Unit provides such an important service and when we heard Pei and Guangbin’s story we were only too pleased to help.”

The ward, which looks after 300 babies each year, will use the donation to purchase new cardiac monitors that record the vital signs of the babies receiving intensive care.

“Babies that are born early sometimes need specialised, round the clock care and we work really hard to make sure that both the babies and their parents are looked after,” says Susan Spooner, manager of the Special Care Baby Unit. 'We're really grateful to Branston for this donation, it is simply fantastic. We will put the money towards ensuring that we have the very latest equipment and technology on the ward.”