Press release – May 8 2018

2018/033

Wye Valley NHS Trust Managing Director Jane Ives has just returned from two weeks in the Arctic undertaking the Iceman Polar challenge to raise funds for the Trust’s Born Sleeping appeal.

Jane and two colleagues from South Warwickshire NHS FT (WVT and South Warwickshire NHS FT are partners in an NHS Foundation Group), trekked through the Arctic in the four-day ski race which saw them carrying and pulling their tents and supplies across a mixture of frozen fjords, remote valleys and sweeping glaciers.

“It was most definitely an Arctic challenge,” said Jane. “We were by far the oldest and the only all-female team competing.

“We flew into blizzard conditions and after putting up our tent for our first night in the Arctic under canvas, we were woken up at 6am the next morning to concerned voices because our tent was very nearly fully covered buy an enormous snowdrift and we had to dig our way out.

”The weather cleared after a couple of days and it was blue skies from then on which was a relief – having endured extreme winds and snow we were ready for quieter weather.”

Over the next few days Jane and those taking part in the challenge were taught to Nordic ski, pull pulks (sledges) with their equipment, escape from an ice crevasse and to shoot a rifle in case of polar bear attack.

“We finished our training and then set out over the ice on our four-day trek covering around 20km per day – which took us 8 – 11 hours to complete depending on the terrain. We then had to pitch tents and start boiling four litres of water from ice to prepare our dehydrated food and drinking water for the following day.

“It was exhausting and most participants had blistered feet – but the exhilaration of being in such a breath-taking environment carried us all through.

“We didn’t win but we were awarded the teamwork prize for our relentless cheerfulness and support for each other to get to the end.

“It was a fabulous experience and all for a good cause – money raised will be going to the Trust’s Born Sleeping appeal for a maternity bereavement suite. There’s still time to sponsor the trip through my justgiving page”.

Jane has raised £1,000 so far. Anyone wanting to donate should visit - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jane-ives3

Ends

Pic caption:

Jane in the Arctic during her Polar challenge

Jane leading her team of three through one of the remote Arctic valleys during the Polar challenge

Note to editors:

Wye Valley NHS Trust is a provider health services across Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust exists to improve the wellbeing, independence and health of the people we serve. We are the leading provider of health care in Herefordshire.

By working closely with our partners, we can make good our promise to deliver a quality of care we would want for ourselves, our families and our friends.

With an estimated annual turnover of around £180 million, we employ around 2,700 plus staff. We aim to build new relationships between our staff, patients, service users and their carers with the wider community.

For further information please contact the Trust communication team on 01432 372928 or 01432 355444 x5105.