Sarah

I grew up in the local area so I knew Trafford General Hospital when I was a child. I can remember visiting a friend’s grandma on one of the wards when she was recovering from an illness. I remember we took her some juicy peaches in a brown paper bag. The ward was very long with beds spaced out on either side. When I was a child it wasn’t called Trafford General Hospital but Park Hospital. You still hear people refer to it as Park Hospital today.
 
Now, many years later, I work on the site of Trafford General Hospital. I work at the Moorside unit, which is a mental health unit. We are run by a separate hospital trust to the main hospital. I work as a Support, Time and Recovery worker on the two later life wards at Moorside. I work doing therapeutic activities with the patients that help to support their recovery. We do activities to help improve patients’ mental well-being, for example, art and craft, reminiscence work, quizzes and music. We have regular concerts by Music in Hospitals and Care. These concerts can evoke positive feelings and memories for our patients as they listen to songs from from the past from the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, Tom Jones etc. At the time of writing this I have worked in this post for 16 years.

I became interested in working in mental health when I was a patient at the Moorside unit myself in 2002. I was very unwell at the time and would never have thought back then that I could end up working in mental health. However, it just goes to show that recovery is possible. I really enjoy my job and helping people navigate their own recovery journey. It gives you a great feeling to know that you are making a difference to people’s lives.

It was when I was a patient at the Moorside unit that I also became a Christian after meeting a fellow patient there who was also a Christian. We got talking and, when she spoke about her Christian faith, it was like a light switched on. Everything made sense. Since then my faith has been a really important part of my life and a source of strength when times are difficult, as they sometimes can be for all of us. I attend a church close to my home; it is also the church where I was christened as a baby.

There have been lots of memorable moments during my working life. However, perhaps the most significant moment was when we heard that the main hospital was on fire.

I vividly remember that summer afternoon in 2021. I had just sat down at the computer to write some patient notes. There was a thunderstorm which seemed to be directly above the hospital itself. I had just picked up a cup of tea and was about to take a sip when I heard an almighty thud of thunder. I nearly jumped out of my skin and, needless to say, my cup of tea went everywhere. I was busy wiping up the spillage when a few minutes later someone came running past the office shouting that the main hospital was on fire. It was the Seymour unit that had caught fire after being hit by lightning.  

Fortunately, all the patients and staff were safely evacuated and there were no injuries. The fire brigade worked throughout the night to dampen down the flames. We really saw the best of humanity that day as staff rallied to help evacuate the patients. A charity even brought a van onto the site and made drinks and snacks for the firefighters to keep their energy levels up. It was a really dramatic event in Trafford General Hospital’s history that will no doubt be talked about for years to come.

Little did I think when I was a child visiting Park Hospital that I would end up working there. Hopefully there are a lot of memorable moments to come, but nothing as dramatic as the fire of summer 2021.