After raising €4m cystic fibrosis charity says it needs no more money
After a decade of hard work, Build4Life has completed its mission of funding and equipping outpatient and inpatient facilities for children and adults with CF at Cork University Hospital (CUH) including:
- The funding and equipping of the adult CF outpatient clinic (opened in 2011);
- The funding and equipping of the adult CF inpatient and general respiratory ward (opened in 2015);
- The funding and equipping of children’s CF outpatient clinic due to open in May.
Monies have been set aside to fund inpatient children’s beds not due to come on stream for a number of years.
The charity also funded two staff members for the children’s CF department, a nurse and a physiotherapist, as well as purchasing additional medical equipment at a cost of €200,000.
Build4Life founder Joe Browne, whose son Padraig has CF, said parents involved in the charity were motivated by the need to protect their children from the risk of cross infection, a risk they felt hospital management had failed to address.
“We knew we could not cure this terrible disease but we could try to make the conditions in CUH in line with best international practice where patients lived longer due to specialised facilities,” Mr Browne said.
Mr Browne said that while Build4Life required no further funds, those who wished to support CF in CUH or any medical condition could donate to the CUH charity “who know best where funds are needed”.
He said those who donated to the charity had “helped us to achieve an amazing thing and that is to offer hope and security to people with CF attending CUH”.
Mick Molloy, chair of the CUH charity, described Build4Life’s contribution as “an incredible achievement”.
“We’re extremely grateful to Joe, it’s a huge contribution to the hospital and it will make life so much easier and more reassuring for CF patients,” said Prof Molloy.
Build4Life essentially laid the roadmap for creating CF facilities in units around the country.
It had numerous obstacles to overcome along the way, including a row over the ringfencing of beds for patients with CF on the adult respiratory ward at CUH — which the charity organisation funded to the tune of €2.3m.
